


Hail to the Queen

by Aszecsei



Category: BioShock Infinite, Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-01 12:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2773334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aszecsei/pseuds/Aszecsei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They told me, "You're special. You were born to do great things."</p>
<p>You know what? They were right.</p>
<p>(A sort of crossover fic of Bioshock Infinite and Frozen, mixed with some other Disney characters. Elsanna. Written by aszecsei and frostbackcat.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival At The Tower

They told me, “You're special. You were born to do great things.”

You know what? They were right.

An airplane falls from the sky, and I don't know who I am—don't know where I am—the water fills my lungs, I'm drowning and I'm going to die—

I stare at my hands in wonder. I knew they were capable of so much, but to bring life into the world? The enormity of my act is astounding, and I—

Lives pour through me, names and places and memories pulsing in my head, and I scream—

Heavy thunks sound, footsteps of a behemoth, a monster of metal and light roars in my face—

I am Jack.

I shake my head. No. That's not right.

I am Delta.

No.

Booker.

No.

Comstock.

My fingers clutch at my hair, my braid—

Elsa.

* * *

The reindeer tirelessly pulled the sleigh. To either side, the trees of the forest were little more than shadowed pillars, illuminated only by the reflection of moonlight on the snow. In the front, the man and woman argued.

“You should've turned left.”

“No, this is a shortcut.”

“Forgive me for asking,” Elsa called, “How much longer?”

The man and woman ignored her. “Ah, but if you'd turned left, you could've taken the other shortcut. Sven, go right.”

The woman obstinately turned left. “You don't tell Sven what to do,” she said. “I do.” The man handed Elsa a box. She opened it to see what was inside. It was a key and some coins. Elsa was unfamiliar with this type of currency. She pocketed both items.

“Yes, I do,” the man said.

“No, you do.”

“Oh. I see what you mean.”

They waited in silence until the trees thinned out and a castle became visible. “We're here,” said the man. Elsa climbed out of the sleigh with grace and landed on the snow with a barely audible puff.

“Should we tell her when we'll come back?” asked the woman.

“Would it make a difference?” asked the man.

“It might make her feel better. Or something.”

“Well, at least that's one thing we can agree on.”

“Excuse me,” called Elsa. “Is someone meeting me here?”

“Maybe,” shrugged the man as the reindeer began to pull the sled away from the castle and back into the woods.

“I sure wouldn't want to be stranded here,” agreed the woman.

It did seem like a dreadful place to be stranded, Elsa thought, looking at the castle. It might once have been considered welcoming - she could imagine it, all skinny parapets and stone towers bursting forth from its main construction, joyously-colored banners and streamers flung from one window to another. But it seemed to have fallen into disrepair, and the night moon illuminated the whole in a monochromatic blue.

It was an entirely gloomy place, now, a relic of a royal family who had long-vacated its premises. Still, she passed through the gates and raised her hand to knock on its door.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

They echoed dully, but there was no response.

“Excuse me,” she called, “It's Queen Elsa of Arendelle? I think you're expecting me?”

She wasn't stranded, was she? When the man and the woman had come back to her - had given her the second chance she'd dreamed of for years - it had seemed like a dream come to life. Now she wondered if it weren't perhaps too good to be true.

She twisted the knob of the door, and to her surprise the door opened to reveal a dimly lit hallway. Candelabras had been mounted into the walls, but the wax burned low and the glow they gave off was more ominous than welcoming, casting soft shadows across the burgundy walls and into the hall.

“Is there anyone in here?” she called, and hesitantly stepped into the hallway, letting the door close behind her. Her footsteps were muffled against crimson carpeting, and each step raised small clouds of dust. The complete silence was nearly tangible.

“Hello?”

There was no response. She glanced at one wall; it bore a veiled portrait, two figures blurred beyond recognition by the black cloth.

Could it—no. That portrait was in the castle at Arendelle. She shook her head. She had to remember what she was doing.

“This place,” she said aloud, “is not real.” The words echoed in the hallway, reverberated dully from the walls, and she steeled herself to move on, away from the portrait.

And yet - there was a familiar door, decorated with blue rosemaling. She recognized it well enough as her own, save for the message scrawled on its surface in a deep red that could only be blood:

“DO NOT FAIL US.”

She pushed it open, hesitant, and then shut it immediately. As though the buzzing of flies weren't enough, the smell of death was more than enough to ensure that she never returned to that room again.

The hallway ended at a staircase, and she climbed it, spiraling higher and higher. Certainly it was taller than any she had seen before, and she wondered for a fleeting moment if it might reach to the clouds. Finally, she climbed a final step and saw that she had entered what appeared to be a lighthouse. Its center contained no lamp, but instead a chair made of red leather over steel was bolted to the floor, surrounded on all sides by glass.

Elsa stared at it for a moment, then looked through the window, and gasped. Her earlier estimation had been incorrect; she could see that the tower had not passed through the clouds, but the view was no less magnificent for it. The sun was above the clouds, beams of light shining through in rays seemingly cast from the heavens themselves.

She attempted to open the door to step onto the metal grate outside, but it was locked. She looked at the chair; it seemed to be the only thing to do, so she sat on it, resting her wrists lightly on the arms.

Metal restraints clamped down on her wrists without warning, locking her in place.

“What—”

“Make yourself ready, Pilgrim,” said a voice with no source Elsa could see. “The bindings are there as a safeguard.” Metal walls rose from the ground, the one in front of Elsa containing a small window, and they clanged into position around the chair. The chair tilted downwards, and for one horrifying moment Elsa saw flames emerging from metal cones, and felt as though she would fall into the inferno below her.

“Ascension,” the voice said, and the chair tilted back up, Elsa falling back into it with relief. “Ascension on the count of five. Count of four. Three. Two.”

Elsa looked out the window.

“One.”

The railings suddenly went down, past the window - no, she realized, that wasn't right. The window - the chair, everything - was rising, at dizzying speeds. The clouds approached, and she passed the top of the lowest ones as the voice spoke once more.

“Five thousand feet,” it counted. “Ten thousand feet. Fifteen thousand feet.”

And then she had passed through the clouds.

“Hallelujah.”

There was a city, floating in the sky. Elsa stared at it in disbelief. A statue of an angel dominated the view, as tall as a mountain. Other buildings were nestled in the clouds.

“...wow.”

Music began to play; a slow, yet cheerful piano tune. There was a muffled thump as the vehicle Elsa was carried in began to slowly descend. A large aircraft passed in front of the window, bulbous and propelled by two large metal fans.

A zeppelin, Elsa thought. It's a zeppelin. How had she not known that?

The vessel continued to descend, passing a building with a portrait on the side. “Her Majesty the Snow Queen,” it read, and Elsa stared. She was here. She was actually here.

The vessel slammed into a metal platform with a metallic crash, and then began to descend once more, guided into a building. A giant pendulum swung, massive gears turned, and light shone through text carved into massive stone banners.

“Why would she send her savior unto us, if we will not raise a finger for our own salvation? And though we deserved not her mercy, she has led us to this new Eden, a last chance for redemption.”

Elsa raised an eyebrow. The Snow Queen? Salvation? It was hardly likely. Chances were that she was simply using her followers, much like she had used Elsa herself, and when it came time, her followers would burn alongside the rest.

The vessel descended further, slowly revealing a stained-glass portrait of the Snow Queen herself, gesturing heroically, magic glowing in sharp spears around her hand. “And the Queen shall lead the people to the new Eden,” read the banner above the image. On the ground below, people had lit candles and left offerings.

Despite herself, Elsa was impressed.

The door to the vessel slowly swung upwards, the restraints released, and Elsa rubbed her chafed wrists while standing up before she could be trapped again. The faint sounds of singing echoed around her, mixing with the sound of running water.

Because, as Elsa looked around, the entire floor was covered with water. Were it not for the steps leading upwards where gifts were laid out, Elsa might have thought the entire building flooded.

“Pardon me, sir?” she asked a white-garbed man standing near an archway. “Where am I?”

“Heaven, friend,” said the man, bowing his head. “Or as close as we'll see till judgment day.”

Elsa nodded as though this made perfect sense, and continued on her way. The stairs past the man spiralled down, and more stained glass decorated the walls; a snowflake, a flower, and a lute.

“And every year, on this day of days, we recommit ourselves to our city, and to our Her Majesty the Queen. We commit through sacrifice, and the giving of thanks, and by submerging ourselves in the sweet waters of baptism.”

Elsa's path led in a line to meet with a circle of white-robed men and women, gathered around a central speaking figure.

“And lo, if the Queen had struck down our enemies at Wounded Knee, and not railed at the Sodom beneath us, it would have been enough. If the Queen had just railed at the Sodom beneath us, and not given us deliverance, it would have been enough. If our Queen had only given us deliverance, and not led us to this new Eden, it would have been enough. If the Queen had just led us to the new Eden, and not purged the vipers of the Orient, it would have been enough!”

The speaker suddenly stopped. “Is it someone new?” he asked. “Someone from the Sodom below, newly come to Columbia to be washed clean before our Her Majesty, our Queen and Savior?”

“I just need to get into the city,” she said. Then, remembering her manners, she added “Please?”

“Passage to the city?” the speaker asked, putting a hand to his chin theatrically. He was robed in black and stood in front of an ornate tunnel, below a banner: “THE PATH OF FORGIVENESS IS THE ONLY WAY INTO THE CITY.”

“My dear girl, the only way into Columbia is through rebirth in the sweet waters of baptism. Will you be cleansed, young miss?”

“Glory be!” said one of the white-robed men.

“Hallelujah!” exclaimed a woman.

“Cleanse yourself!”

Elsa sighed, and stepped forwards. She'd already been baptised, of course, as a child; another certainly wouldn't hurt, and it seemed to be the only way into the city.

Nothing would stop her from reaching Anna. Not now, not when she was so close...

“I baptise you in the name of our Her Majesty, our Queen and Savior!” the man said. Elsa rolled her eyes at his theatrics; he must have seen, because his hand covered her face and shoved her backwards, under the water. He continued speaking, though it was muffled by the water, and Elsa flailed, strangled burbling sounds coming from her mouth as she thrashed.

Finally he let her up. She coughed, missing the beginning of his speech, but she was quiet in time to hear him end it. “I don't know, brothers and sisters,” he said, “But this one doesn't look clean to me.” And he shoved her once more under the water, where she flailed and tried to escape until her vision went dark and she knew no more.


	2. Number 77

Water heaved from Elsa's lungs, splashing back in her face to try drowning her a second time. Her vision was clouded, but she could barely make out the shapes of men looming over her, staring with critical gazes.

Pressing her fingertips to her eyes, she realized that she was now outside of the cathedral, and those men were just statues; however, that realization didn't make her any more comfortable under their unmoving scrutiny.

It was a struggle picking herself up, carrying the weight of her drenched clothes. Remembering the key, she double-checked her pockets. It was still there along with the money. It wouldn't have been a surprise if it had been compensated as payment for choking on holy water. She and the priest had vastly different ideas of what entailed a proper baptism. It was a sure thing that she was going to be miserable for a good portion of the day, that is until she dried.

Elsa took a few moments to survey the city, bathing in the sun, and grabbing a bite to eat to replenish her strength. A giant sculpture of this city's “queen” stood in a noble, yet dictatorial pose, with her dress billowing outward and an outstretched arm with a flexed hand, the other curled into a fist. She certainly liked showing herself off. And everyone else seemed perfectly willing to go along with it, given the way they admired the statue.

She lost her appetite and put the remainder of her food in a wastebasket. Her stroll was cut short due to a parade going on. And she seemed to have just caught the beginning of it too. Elsa wasn't sure how much more she could take of being force-fed the sights of this town. She was normally patient, but she could tell that it was going to be one of those days that wouldn't be short on setbacks.

Finally, the parade ended, and Elsa was able to cross to the next part of town. She saw a poster, indicating that Columbia was having a Raffle and Fair that very afternoon. She hoped it'd be avoidable. With so many people there, it'd be in her favor to trek through the less-populated areas. At least if she was hoping to find Anna without any more distractions.

This is where they said I'd find her, Elsa said to herself, holding up a matching picture to the colossal angel statue. Monument Island was what it was called, strategically placed to be floating in front of the sun to give it a more ethereal air than it merited. It was here. But Elsa now needed to find the best route to it.

"Telegram, Ms. Vår!"

"Hm? Pardon, young sir?"

Interrupting her thoughts, a small blonde-haired boy with a chipped tooth smiled up at her, shoving a yellow paper in her face. “Telegram for you, ma'am!” She took the paper and turned it over, half-noticing the boy's salute to her before he scurried off.

_COLUMBIA TELEGRAM CO._  
 _Vår STOP_  
 _Do not alert the Queen to_  
 _your presence STOP_  
 _Whatever you do, do not_  
 _pick #77 STOP  
_ _Bjorgman_

What on earth did they mean by that?

Pocketing the telegram, Elsa continued searching for the way to Monument Island. But everywhere she looked, the roads were blocked off. Normally she would have disregarded those gates if they weren't being guarded by policemen. That means the only possible way through would be to go through the fair. Of course.

The fair didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Outside of the announcers praising their Queen, the unnerving devil-themed games, and complex gadgets, some of which were used to somehow prolong life. The only thing that posed as vaguely familiar to Elsa were those advertisements for Vigors.

After practically getting lost in the place, there was finally another gate that could lead to where she needed to go. Fortunately, this one had no policemen guarding it. Unfortunately, it was automatically locked up by a talking ticket machine, topped off with a patriotic robot.

"Sorry, pal, the raffle is all sold out!" It said, stiffly waving Elsa away.

Now what? She looked about and saw a window with a video inside, giving instructions of some kind. Next to the video box was an adorable round-cheeked lady, her bright blonde hair pulled into a bun, and her face giving a snarky show. She was in uniform, holding a basket and giving out free samples of those Vigors Elsa saw on a sign a while back. Curiosity got the better of her and she gently picked one from the girl's batch.

The Vigor was called “Possession”, and the green bottles they were being kept in were designed with a provocative woman draping herself over the top. And the lip of the bottle was cleverly placed at her left breast.

Classy, thought Elsa. She popped the heart-shaped cap and took a swig just the same, trying her best not to think of where her mouth was on the bottle, and certainly trying not to pay attention to how the female steward was ogling her as she drank. Elsa's nervousness was evident in the way she gulped.

"With just a whisper, they're all ears…" she purred, giggling after blowing Elsa a kiss. She wasn't sure if it was the kiss or the drink, but Elsa was feeling delightfully bubble-headed. She settled on it being the effects of the Vigor. It wasn't a long inebriation, but one that had her compelled just the same.

What the hell was that… Her hands… they were pulsating with a green glow.

Her attention was brought back to the video. It was instructions explaining the effects, uses, and warnings of the Vigor being given out. Probably would've been wise for her to refer to that first before drinking it.

It said that the “Possession” could be used to make robots do your bidding. That… is oddly specific, but very pragmatic. And all she'd have to do was touch it to make it work. Elsa held her hand up to the ticket box, and it suddenly “recognized” her and allowed her entrance to the other side.

The doors opened, revealing the Bjorgman twins. The brother was wearing a chalkboard with tally marks etched into one side, while his sister held a plate.

The brother spoke first, “Heads?”

"Or tails?" His sister finished.

"Please, let me through." She did not have time for this. What did it matter what she picked anyway? It wouldn't change anything. Kristoff tossed her a coin, and Elsa caught it in both hands. Again they asked their question "Heads or tails?"

Was this some kind of joke? Were they simply not going to let her pass if she chose wrong? And how could she choose wrong exactly? All of the tallies were under the “heads” side and not the “tails” side. This coin must have been one-sided. She tossed it, guessing Heads as the only answer. Of course, she “guessed” right when the coin landed heads-up on the plate.

"Told you." Kristoff said, looking at his sister who reluctantly added another mark to his side. Both immediately seemed to forget Elsa was even there at all. "I thought I'd be happier about winning that."

"Cheer up. There's always next time." Krista encouraged him with a playful slug to his chin, leading him away.

"I guess there is."

Brushing past Elsa was another young woman, taller than herself, with beautiful hazel eyes, and dark auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail by a light blue ribbon. As she took a moment to once-over her, Elsa eavesdropped a little on their conversation.

The girl seemed not to run out of breath as she ignored her mother attempting to get her attention through the crowd. “Madam Bjorgman! I have read all your books on the sciences! Mama says it's not a fit occupation for a lady… but I think she's jealous of our cleverness. Is it true that only you are allowed to visit the girl in the tower? If the princess is lonely too, I should like to meet her, as we would have much in common.”

Their chat reminded Elsa why she was there, and she carried on with her quest toward the statue of Columbia. She didn't get far when there was another advertisement that caught her interest. Only this “advertisement” was a Wanted poster.

It read, “You shall know the false queen by her mark!”, with the words framing a printed image of a black demonic hand with the letters “AV” on the back…

What…?

Elsa looked at the back of her own right hand. Frozen into the skin were imprints of permanent white snowflakes, shaping the same letters, “AV” - both a reminder of what she was, and what she had done. They couldn't possibly be looking for me, Elsa thought. How could they even know I'm here?

She pressed on, getting so close to the statue of Columbia, all she had to do was… go straight through the middle of the Raffle Square.

“And now! The 1912 Raffle has officially begun!”

Elsa pushed her way through the crowd that cheered for an enthusiastic young man on the stage. She'd seen him on posters before, name was Fink-something, and he definitely looked more passionate in front of others than how he was presented in his pictures. His hair was even a brighter shade of red than depicted. He wore a genuine smile with a nice set of teeth, and proudly expressed his style and fervor. She immediately disliked him.

“Miss! Miss!”

Elsa silently cursed herself for allowing herself to get distracted. Someone had noticed her. It was another young woman dressed similarly to the one handing out the Vigor samples, only she had bright red curls swept back and had a deal more makeup caked onto her face. She was still pretty to look at, even though she clearly didn't need her face painted.

“I'm sorry,” she tried getting away from her, but still slow enough to not make a scene. “I don't have anything to pay with.” She tried leaving again, but the woman lightly grabbed her arm.

“No, sugarcane,” she laughed in her flowery Southern Belle accent, swaying coyly behind her basket of baseballs. “There's never a charge for the raffle. You been living behind closed doors?”

Elsa felt insulted by that remark. Frowning, she humored her, hesitantly taking the top baseball without giving it much thought. She saw the number.

“Seventy-seven…”

“That's a lucky number! I'll be rootin' for ya.” The woman smiled and left.

“Bring me the bowl!” Yelled Fink, motioning for a black-haired woman to join him. She was dressed like the others, only her hair was far longer, even with it pulled up, and she looked just as snarky as the first girl Elsa saw, if not worse. Fink reached into the bowl, and predictably announced the winner, “…Number seventy-seven!”

They could call her number all they liked, but she wasn't going to just go up there and get caught. She would just stay with the spectators and pretend that—

“Over here! She's the winner!” shouted that red-haired woman, giving away her position. Fink looked right at Elsa, and the eye contact made her jump.

“Number Seventy-Seven, come and claim your prize: First throw!”

With a wave of his hand, the red curtains behind him pulled up, while some foolish version of the Bridal Chorus was being sung in a drunken stupor by members of the public. The curtains revealed a couple of frightened women, roped together and being exploited wearing scandalous clothes. They motioned to cover themselves, but their hands were tied behind them.

The assemblage of people howled with laughter and wolf-calls as Fink made vulgar gestures at the women, even going so far as to grope them shamelessly, ignoring their obvious discomfort. The dark-skinned woman sneered at Fink laying his hands on her smaller blonde companion, who choked out her name ‘Tia' for help.

Elsa's blood boiled at this nauseating performance. She was completely stunned at this, and was getting riled from the reactions of the people along with that man's disrespectful… manhandling of those girls. She should just get on stage and—

“C'mon!” Fink goaded. “Are you gonna throw it? Or are you batting for the other team?” He threw his head back and laughed his obnoxious laugh. As much as she wanted to throw the ball at his pointed nose, Elsa stood her ground, doing her best to conceal her anger.

Conceal, she reminded herself, attempting to bury the rage. The flakes of ice she hadn't noticed creeping over the baseball receded, slowly.

Suddenly, her hand was gripped and raised up for all to see, two policemen sharing a similar style of sideburns restrained her from either side. “It's her!”

Fink kneeled on the stage, getting face to face with the now-captive Elsa. She snarled, helpless. How could she have let this happen? Why hadn't she thought to bring her gloves?

“Well now, that's a pretty brand. How'd you get it?” he asked, taking her hand and examining it. He grinned in a manner that rivaled snakes. “Don't you know that makes you the false queen? “ He stood again, arms open to the public as if this was another one of his acts. “And we don't want our kingdom to be run by some false queen! Show her what we've got planned.” He ordered.

The smaller of the two men lowered a Sky Hook near her face while the other watched, smug and eager for what was to come.

Panic rose within her. This could not be how it ended. They had every intention of killing her, no questions asked. How could she even hope to fight back? One man was enough to overpower her, but two?

She began to flail, squirming and making herself harder to handle. She ripped her arm from one man's hold, causing her to slip and grab him for support. For a split second, she saw him lose balance from unexpectedly catching her, his head now leaning toward the spinning hook, and instead of preventing it from happening, she pulled him down with all of her weight, causing a bloody collision of the two.

In her alarm, she couldn't even hear him scream in pain as his flesh and bone was stripped from his face, chunks of meat spraying on her face and into the now-screaming crowd. She had to act now, while everyone was frightened - herself especially. She quickly picked up the grappling hook, now her only way to protect herself. The other policeman tried grabbing her and she pushed him away with the still-rotating weapon, causing him to throw himself back in pain, grabbing his bloody, shredded chest. Bits of ribcage were visible, starkly white against the flayed muscle.

Elsa raced past him, shoving her way through the masses all screaming and trying to get away from her. She managed to lose the policemen, and thankfully everyone was running away from her, towards their idea of safety - which in turn made Elsa feel safe when she reached areas that were now entirely deserted. The stampede must have spread, even if people didn't know exactly what the panicked crowd was running from.

She found herself taking refuge in an alleyway. She may have subconsciously felt safe there, but looking down at herself, she realized what just happened. She had blood splattered all over her shirt, blood that did not belong to her. She felt light-headed, and the world spun in front of her eyes as she froze.

“What have…what have I done?”


	3. Mea Culpa

She'd just killed a man. And memories of doing it came flooding back to her. The horrid screams of agony, the blood being splashed by the rotating blades, the chips of bone and teeth flying back into her face.

Feeling like she may faint, and Elsa wished she had, she instead retched all over the cobblestone of her hideout. Once, and then twice.

Falling to her knees, she stared at her own mess, but she did not see it. All she saw was herself slaughtering someone. No, no, it wasn't slaughter. It was an accident. She would have never intentionally… it was not her fault. She was not responsible for their deaths; they were going to kill her. All she was doing was protecting herself.

And she had to find Anna. At any cost. But she couldn't let her know that she killed someone while trying to find her. She would be devastated to know that. It was still an accident. And not one that Elsa was willing to repeat.

Gathering herself, she closed up her jacket, covering the worst of the mess. She'd need a change of clothes eventually, if she was going to keep this quiet. But right now she had to get away. She was too close to the police and they were going to catch up to her.

So far so good, she could just sneak through most of these buildings and get to the tram that would take her to the island. No one was around--

“Call out the Fireman!”

Elsa didn't know what they yelled that for, but whatever it was, it was certainly chasing her. She ran up to the next closed gate and used a good portion of her strength to push it open. Sweat dripped from her brow.

Why was it so warm all of a sudden?

The answer to her question lay before her. This entire section of the city was set ablaze. How did this happen?

“Burn in the name of the queen!!”

Elsa silently screamed and ran for cover behind a food cart as a ball of fire was hurled right towards her. She looked to the other side, fearing what was there, but needing to know. It was one of those strange gadgets she saw at the fair. A large mechanical suit holding one frail old man with a long gaunt nose.

“Come back here! You shall be judged!” He threw flames at her only cover, and she continued to run, covering her head.

“Stop! Please!”

Of course her pleas went unheard, and the “Fireman” continued to bombard her with his attacks.

“Why won't you die? I keep killing you, over and over, and you just won't DIE!”

“You're crazy!” Elsa shouted, diving from behind a wooden carriage as it was engulfed in a fiery explosion. The flames rose, higher and higher, a wall of searing heat---

The old man shook his head, violently, grabbing at his face, not seeming to notice as his skin was burned a bright red. “It's not my fault! I'm not to blame! It's her, she's the witch!”

Elsa stared; the flames were twisting, forming the image of a young woman, hair loose and down to her shoulders, running her hands sensually down her sides. Her head was buzzing, there was a ringing in her ears and suddenly the world seemed to be spinning upside-down.

She managed to get out from his sight behind a statue next to the stairs. He was going to find her eventually, but she was running on adrenaline only at this point, and needed to catch her breath. What was he on about? First she's a “false queen” and now she was a “witch”? How many more people were going to blame her for something she didn't do? Not that she was one to talk...

Covering her ears from the next blast nearby, she shouted back at the Fireman. “We are all responsible for our actions!” If she could play on his obvious psychological instability, she figured she might just survive.

The flames morphed once more, losing their quality and becoming red-robed figures, each the size of a building. There wasn't enough room in the alleyway for all these people, she was sure, but it seemed unimportant in the face of these imposing faceless beings.

“Mea culpa,” they chanted. “Mea culpa.”

“No!” the Fireman shouted once more, his face twisting in desperation. “God made the devil so much stronger than a man!”

The robes melted together, a column of roiling fire reaching directly into the sky, tendrils curling around both the Fireman and Elsa herself. The flames seared her arm, and she grabbed at the scorched flesh, screaming.

Then the fire died away. Elsa blinked and coughed in the smoke, though it soon coalesced into the figure of the sensual woman.

“Be mine,” the Fireman whispered to the smoke. The figure beckoned; he leaned his face to hers, as though for a kiss, and then the figure burst into flame. His head was covered with fire, and he screamed, clawing at his face, digging furrows into his flesh.

“BURN!” he shouted, stumbling, bursts of flame shooting from his hands in every direction. “BURN!”

He gave one last, anguished cry before falling to the ground, the smell of burned skin and flesh still emanating from his corpse.

The initial shock and trauma from these events were quickly wearing off, and Elsa started to feel her burned arm again. She hissed in pain, clutching it close to her body, keeping the Sky Hook under her elbow. Her eyes caught sight of a red bottle which had slipped from the Fireman's suit, and she picked it up.

“Devil's Kiss,” she read. Another one of those vigors. The first one had made her feel good...she wondered if it might take away the ache from her arm. Before she could rethink her decision, she poured the bottle down her throat and gagged. Her arm felt like it was going to explode, and then as fast as the pain worsened, the pain vanished, leaving a fuzzy sensation in its wake.

She was meant to be doing something, wasn't she? She examined her hand, which seemed to be burned down to the bone. That was a problem. Water would probably help, she thought, flexing the digits absently.

There had to be a water source somewhere within a restaurant, right? And there was a restaurant conveniently placed nearby, called The Blue Ribbon. She staggered towards the door, fumbled with the handle, and opened it.

Elsa ignored everything around her and made her way behind the bar inside the hall, shakily turning on the running water. She left the water hot, gradually making it cooler. It stung, and as the water ran over her hand, the fuzzy euphoria of the vigor began to wear off.

God, she'd been foolish, taking a vigor whose effects she didn't even know. And the worst part was that she already wanted more of the vigor-induced euphoria.

“We've got company.”

“I noticed.”

Elsa looked up, staring wide-eyed and confused at… the Bjorgman twins. How did they get here? The better question was why were they just carrying on with their day as if flaming chaos didn't just happen outside their door? And the better question yet, “Are… are you following me? Why?”

“We were already here.” stated Krista, matter of factly. That much was obvious, of course they were already there.

“Why are you following us?” Kristoff asked accusingly. As if Elsa had reason to follow them.

“I-I wasn't…”

“You look like you've seen better days. Thirsty?” Krista held up a golden bottle, and Elsa took it, drinking from it without a second thought. It wasn't a vigor, but it still gave a soothing sensation to her injured arm.

“What was that?”

“Well, what do you know? It didn't kill her.”

“That magnetic stuff tends to do the body good.”

“Yeah. If it doesn't kill you, of course.”

Feeling better after that last swig, Elsa left them to their back-and-forth one-sided conversation with each other, making her way to the exit of the restaurant. She was outside, but that was both good and bad. Good, because she spotted where the gondola and tram station was. Bad, on account of the scouting dirigibles flying about. She wasn't sure if they were looking for her, but they were definitely shouting warnings to the civilians about her.

Given that those warnings were about conspicuous lesbianism and the French, she wasn't overly worried.

She was busy making herself scarce behind the railing of the stairs before realizing that this was the end of the line and she had no way of continuing. She couldn't backtrack either. If she did then she'd have to retrace her steps all the way to the Raffle Square and that was the absolute last place she needed to be.

If worse came to worse, she could always make a stairway to… no. That was the worst idea she had yet. That would only draw more attention and lead everyone straight to her. If she did that, then she may as well have danced and yelled for the police to come and kill her.

Scanning the area, she noticed the Sky Hooks and Sky Rails, the latter of which had boxes of cargo being transported across the city. She looked to her own hook. The policemen had these hooks with them for travelling efficiently around the city on the Sky Rails without the use of crosswalks or bridges. Genius, really. And here she thought it was just for rearranging the faces of their victims.

If she did this right, she could swing from building to building. Looking down to estimate how far she had to fall before hitting the ocean, she gulped back her nervousness. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. For Anna.

Worry still spread across her face, taking a few steps backwards to get a good running start. Her back was now against the wall. The only way was forward.

Keeping an eye on the closest Sky Hook allowed Elsa to stay oriented, and she ran as fast as she could, jumping off the edge of the platform at the last possible inch. That second and a half of being airborne seemed like ages, and yet she still didn't have time to be concerned about if she'd make it or not. It was too late for that.

And before she could think again, she realized she connected with the first hook, and with quite the ease at that. She dangled there for a moment, marvelling at her own dexterity to pull off such a feat.

Amazement towards herself gave Elsa a burst of energy to carry on and swing to the next hook. Then the next one. Until finally the last one she could reach. It was a clumsy and hard landing, but she managed not to break anything. She'd have to be extra careful next time.

She walked down the sidewalk. It led her to the outside of an eerily dark building, with tens if not hundreds of crows flocking all around it.

Crows never bothered Elsa. She actually found them to be quite intelligent birds. Surely they wouldn't be so bold as to fly into the building if people were inside. Elsa took that as clear evidence that it was safe for her to cut through here to make it to the gondola.

This place sure had its fair share of disturbing imagery, sneaking through it. While it appeared to have had a great deal of money put into it, the place was in terrible condition, even from only just recent abandonment. There were feathers, trash, and dried bird excrement all over the floors. It put a more literal meaning to the phrase “filthy rich”.

Aside from the birds, the rooms seemed to still be abandoned, with the exception of one lone radio being left on. Elsa caught most of it through the static as she slipped through the room.

“...this afternoon, the scoundrel, believed now by many to be Vox Populi, began her terrible rampage… She is considered brimming with danger and evil intent…”

She was getting fed up from listening to those lies and propaganda being spread about her, and hopped into the first elevator she saw. Alone with her thoughts to let the headline sink in at that quiet moment. The nerve of these people. Brimming with danger and evil intent, indeed. And whatever the Vox Populi was, they clearly didn't do their research. She didn't even know who they were.

The elevator stopped on one of the next floors up. Hopefully the exit would be on this floor, and she could forget about this creepy place. She couldn't even guess which door could lead to outside, so she picked one, regretting it seconds later.

The door was chained, but Elsa saw enough that any person wiser would have turned and run. A bare-chested man was strapped to a wall by his wrists and ankles, screaming and sobbing for mercy.

From beyond Elsa's vision, a murder of crows launched themselves at him, scratching off hunks of skin, gouging his eyes with their beaks, and drilled their way into his body until he was nothing but hunks of flesh linked by thin threads of skin. All of that caught within a second of peeking through that door before she had to squeeze her eyes shut to protect herself from the blood and feathers flying through the crack.

When Elsa opened one eye, before her stood an extravagant, dark woman with glowing green eyes, and red lips to match the blood on her crows' beak, looking right at her.

She was caught, but by who, she didn't know. Her first instinct was to turn and run, but she was frozen in her tracks, her wide eyes locked onto the dazzling ones before her. The woman grinned, as if she knew of Elsa's darkest secrets and was taunting her with every single one of them.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed during those moments, but soon enough the woman had disappeared, and all that was there was the crow she was holding, flying away into a brighter area which Elsa couldn't view. She pondered for a moment if the woman was even there to begin with, before an intriguing, fiery, green orb appeared in her place.

Elsa could feel her eyes dilate as she watched the ball of light flicker, in such a way that it was the only thing that gave her reason to be. She found the true thing she'd been looking for her entire life, and she didn't know it until that moment. Any thoughts of Anna, any fears she had, even the man she had killed, all that had been and all that would be were meaningless.

The orb pulsed with light, and Elsa took a step forward.

 


	4. The Crow

The orb flickered twice and began to float away without Elsa.

 _No! Don't leave me!_ Elsa's own voice cried out in her head, though her face remained expressionless. She couldn't possibly go on without that orb. It was precious for reasons Elsa couldn't even explain, but she had to follow where it was going. Everything in her screamed that following it was the right thing and the only thing she should be doing. She wouldn't dare separate from it again.

Without any regard for her own weaknesses, Elsa rammed her shoulder into the door over and over until it broke open. She may have injured her arm doing so, but she did not feel it beyond the desire to pursue that little sphere.

The ball flared up, but just a bit, as if sensing Elsa slowly trailing behind it, leading her to an open yard in the center of the building. Then it disappeared, and for an instant Elsa felt desperate, having lost the thing she'd wanted forever. She snapped back to her usual self, albeit a bit frightened and confused about what had just happened and how easily swayed she was. She didn't understand how something could be more important than Anna, but she was quick to remind herself and regain her composure.

It was a wide enclosure with a dome over the top. Elsa had thought with all the vines and thorns littered all around the walls that it was outside. There was still beams of natural light leaking in from between the pillars, falling onto yet another statue of the queen, and hanging golden cages containing corpses, with the occasional bird eating from it.

Despite its colorlessness, the fog (and the smell), the place had a calm air to it. That is until the towering, shadowy woman appeared where the sphere had been. Elsa couldn't tell if the orb and her had been one and the same or not, but the fear of her didn't leave for very long. Elsa remained still, feeling discouragingly small in the woman's presence.

Having a clear view of her now, she could see every sharp edge of this sorceress (a word that Elsa seemed to sum up her description in the only way she knew, despite being accused of being one herself). Her entire body, aside from her staggeringly pale face, was covered from head to toe in black garments. Her staff and even her large, twisting horns, that made her tall self even more intimidating, were wrapped in black. Elsa already felt outnumbered, even without the crow who returned to his mistress's side.

“Well, well…”

When the woman spoke, her voice was deceitfully soft, and yet still rang mightily off the surrounding walls, a hint to Elsa that even at this witch's most serene she was far more threatening than she herself ever could be. She couldn't even read her expressions. Was she mocking her? Or did she actually find something interesting about her?

“When the queen asked me to kill you, I didn't realize how… docile you'd be.”

Elsa stepped back. Kill her? Was she to suffer the same fate as that poor man? She wouldn't be able to escape the crows, she thought, noticing them starting to flock around the tops of the pillars and gravestones.

She began to stroke the wings of her companion with her ring finger. The sorceress was biding her time for some reason, evidently since she had yet to order her crows to peck her eyes out. “I expected more resistance from you, considering your talents.”

Her talents? Did she mean her ice powers? She supposed that the queen told this strange woman about them, along with everything else… Elsa remained silent for a few moments, unsure of what part of herself she felt more shame for.

“And who are you?” Elsa asked, trying to hold back the aggravation in her voice.

The woman sneered at the attitude given, raising her nose pretentiously. “My name, little bird, is Maleficent.”

“Well, Maleficent, I certainly wouldn't call them talents.” Regret flickered across her face. “But I don't use those. Not anymore.”

“Is that so?” Her chin tilted down. “Not even for your precious Anna?”

Elsa's hands started trembling at the mention of her sister. “I can free her from that corrupt queen without my powers. I've gotten this far.”

“You'll need them soon enough.” Maleficent swung her staff back, the crow flying off from the sudden movement. When she brought it forward, bright violet bolts of lightning cracked, being hurled right in Elsa's direction.

She'd already began to move at the first sign of the sorceress moving her staff, and ducked behind a stone cross that was bigger than she was. Another crack of lightning destroyed the gravestone and Elsa started running to the door she came from.

She knew she couldn't really escape, she would only be hunted from that point on. A pillar of green fire rose from the grass, stopping Elsa from going up the stairs to her passage out, revealing the witch from the center outward. Startled, Elsa reacted by bringing her hand up, trying to project fire from her palm using the Devil's Kiss vigor.

When nothing happened, she looked down at her hand, expecting to see embers crackling in it. Her hand looked just as it did before. Why didn't it work? Were all those aftereffects of the vigors temporary as well?

"Foolish girl," Maleficent said, her voice palpably dry. "You have such power, and yet you are too weak to use it to save the one you love."

"Why, then?" Elsa asked. "You know I'm trying to save my sister, why do you attack me?"

"Because as much as you love your sister...it seems I love Aurora more."

"W-what?"

"The Snow Queen has offered her services to me," Maleficent explained. "And should you fall, she will lift the curse on the one I love."

"Then help me!" Elsa said. "We can save them both---"

"How could we?" asked Maleficent, "When you will not save yourself?"

She simply pointed a finger at Elsa, and without another word, the murder of crows flew at her with impossible speed with their beaks wide open and their talons outstretched. There was nowhere to run, and it would be useless to just start flailing her sky hook at the birds. The only thing she thought to do was block her face with her arms, expecting the ceaseless scratching and tearing from enraged birds.

None of that came. When Elsa looked up, what she saw terrified her. The birds at the front of the line were encased in a wall of solid ice, that had shot up from the ground. The rest of the crows scattered about, trying not to have collisions with the ice barrier; some weren't as lucky and fell to the ground with broken necks.

A whimper escaped Elsa's throat, wincing at the innocent lives she just took. Her first time using her powers in so long, and she used them to kill these poor creatures.

She saw a horned shadow out of the corner of her eye, and deliberately cast her hands toward the ground and projected a jagged fence of ice to keep Maleficent away from her. There was no point in running, but she did regardless, sliding behind one of the larger gravestones.

She knew that Maleficent had every intention of killing her, and part of Elsa knew how easy it would have been for her. But she was prolonging this fate, playing cat and mouse, and for what? To frighten her into slipping up? In her frenzy, she may just end up hurting herself.

Realistically, she couldn't have messed up any more than by not fighting back to protect herself. But just because Maleficent wanted to kill, didn't mean Elsa had to.

There had to be an escape route. But where there might be some hope to flee, Maleficent appeared in a burst of green flames. And if Elsa shot ice toward her, she would disappear again, even though she probably knew that Elsa wasn't really trying to hit her, so much as keep her away.

Then again, the only place Maleficent never appeared, was up. And outside was right there, she could make it and then leap to the rooftops. She clenched her fists and stomped one foot on the ground, causing the grass around her freeze solid. She raised her hands to the ceiling and the icy platform began to elevate.

Elsa's eyes snapped downward, feeling something snaking around her ankles. Breaking through the ice were sharp, dark thorns, growing thicker as they coiled up her body, constraining her arms, pushing her upward. The ice beneath Elsa's feet crumbled, her weight pulled her down onto the briers, snagging her skin and making her cry out. Her blood trickled down the spines as she struggled to pull herself upward to keep them from going deeper.

Again, searching for any means of escape, she looked up, coming face to face with Maleficent, who appeared to be even taller than before. She engulfed herself in green flames, her silhouette just barely visible behind them as they both grew to the height of the queen's statue.

Once the flames dispersed, a dragon stood, heat radiating from it's mouth, it's eyes narrowing to paper-thin slits. It's horns shared the same shape as Maleficent's, indicating that it was her in a more monstrous form. Wicked laughter came from the dragon's maw, causing Elsa to back into the thorns constraining her at a pitiful attempt to get away.

Maleficent hunched her neck, curling around her prey, and bringing her teeth up to Elsa's body. The heat emitting from the dragon's mouth was causing her to sweat profusely, stinging when it mixed into her wounds.

She had too many close calls in such a short time, from the start of all of this. But this was bigger than her. How did she think she could save Anna from this of all things? She really was a fool.

The dragon reared her head back, jaws opening wide, revealing a bright green interior, and slowly her mouth neared to close around her.

It couldn't end like this. Elsa shook her head. Anna needed her.

She would do anything for Anna.

Elsa screamed, forcing a large burst of icy magic from her chest, hitting everything in her proximity. The walls of the building, a few other crows, and the dragon. Maleficent screamed, clutching at her chest and falling to the ground, causing the thorns to wilt as her strength left her.

“No! No, no, not again!” Elsa stumbled from the barbs, ignoring her fresh cuts, and ran towards the dragon, which slowly melted back into the form of a horned woman. “No, please, I didn't mean it, I-- Don't--” The smaller woman lifted the witch up into her arms. She was cold, even through her robes.

Maleficent groaned, bringing her hand up to her chest yet again. "The Songbird - don't kill her. What was done to her can be fixed." Her hand suddenly grasped Elsa's arm, tightly. “You have to save her,” she said. “Please. Save - save Aurora.”

Her hand fell to her side, limply. “I had wings,” she said, looking past Elsa, to the sky. “Once. They were strong.” Blue color crept from her chest, slowly radiating outwards, freezing her into solid ice. “I'm sorry.”

A final puff of air, frozen into a white cloud, escaped her lips, and Maleficent moved no more.

Elsa's fingers scrambled against the smooth surface of the ice as she tried to will the effects to reverse, to bring the witch back to life. Maleficent had been just like her, just as desperate, and the Snow Queen had used her and discarded her just as cruelly as she had done to Elsa herself.

“I'm so sorry,” she whispered to the unmoving form in her arms. “I didn't --- I'm sorry.”

She gingerly lowered Maleficent's body onto the ground, and blinked away tears she didn't know were there. She unenthusiastically stood straight. Reliving those past few moments, and without paying attention to her surroundings, she dragged her feet up a flight of stairs that happened to lead where she needed to go.

The angel statue was closer than ever, and for once it actually brought comfort to Elsa, as little amount as it was. She took it as a sign that she was just another step closer to having her sister in her arms again.

She had to press on. Anna was waiting for her. And if it was in any way conceivable, Elsa silently promised to try and free this Aurora for Maleficent's sake. After yet another accidental murder...it was the least she could do.

Elsa hurried to the station nearby. She was feeling so drained after everything, she just couldn't wait to rest inside the gondola even if it was just for a few minutes. It would take her to the island, and allow her to rest her feet and regain her strength, the little she had of it to begin with.

No workers should have been around after all the warnings and panic from everyone, but one couldn't be too careful. Elsa quietly made her way around the walls until she got to the gondola that led to and from Monument Island. She tried jiggling the lever to turn it on. It wouldn't budge. The power had been completely shut down due to the recent emergency. Her.

Not again! No! Elsa thought to punch the lever to get it to move, but a single grain of sense let her not. She whipped around, squeezing her eyes shut, and furiously wiped her bangs back.

This was hindering her enough as it was, but being denied a moment to sit down was nearly the final straw on the mountain of discouragement for Elsa. When she felt the tears well up again, she did something she ought to do more often, and took a deep breath. And then another.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the rail for the gondola was not that much different from the other skyrails. If she coasted down the railing on her skyhook, she'd be able to make it to the skyline station, and take a zeppelin to the island. Then she and Anna could use that same zeppelin to get out of this place.

Taking one more cleansing breath, she mentally prepared herself to hang on to that skyhook and never let go until she reached the main skyline station.

Like the first time, Elsa tested her grip on the weapon, and did a running leap, much longer than the last one. It sent her flying down the skyrail quicker than expected. Her arm only hurt a little bit and it felt like the wind was carrying her as she drifted. While the pain was small, and she felt like she could almost touch the angel statue, she did not want to chance making it to the island without some type of footing beneath her.

Then a demand echoed throughout the entire city. “Stand down!”

Elsa could recognize the Snow Queen's voice anywhere. Despite the threat, Elsa leapt onto the sidewalk of the next building as planned. It was close and she managed to catch herself lightly. What she did not expect to see was a large group of men, kneeling. What she expected to see even less was none of them making an attempt to capture her.

She walked up the stairs of the station, and saw a video of the queen, which everyone was bowing to. As she spoke, all she could do was glare at the cause all of this. All at once, she felt anger for what she did to these people, to her, to Anna, and to Maleficent.

“I know why you've come, Elsa. I see every weakness in your soul: your fear, your cowardice. Your guilt. And of course...Anna.” Elsa's jaw clenched. “And now, to repay a debt, you've come for my lamb. But not all debts can be repaid, Elsa.”

How dare she speak about her that way. How dare she even speak at all. “You don't know me.” Was all she could say, when in the back of her mind, all she wanted to do was throw curse words at her. She didn't even curse.

“Oh, but I do know you, Elsa. I know you better than you know yourself.” The queen smiled at her purposely, trying to get a reaction out of her. Elsa would make certain she wouldn't give that to her. She would give her nothing anymore.

Elsa suddenly felt a change, her eyes blurred and white framed her vision. She brought two of her fingers up to her nose. They presented thick drops of blood on them. What was she doing to her?

The video shut off, just as her vision cleared, and her nose stopped bleeding. But the threats kept coming over the speakers. “Go back to the sodom from whence you came!”

She ignored the voice and traversed through the station until she found one of the many empty aircrafts. She eventually located the control room, and discovered that the zeppelin wasn't quite as empty as she'd thought. There was a nun praying to a picture of the queen, and she was surrounded by candles. It wasn't Elsa's ideal flying companion, but she wasn't causing any harm standing there. Even if she did blindly follow this insane queen of hers.

Now how could she fly this thing? It had about five more levers than necessary, and too many buttons to get acquainted with. And she needed to be airborne that instant.

“Amen.”

Elsa whipped her head around just in time to see the nun drop a flaming bottle onto herself. The entire control room burst into flames, and, barely thinking except to get away from the explosion, Elsa leapt through the window.


	5. The Girl In The Tower

The sky-hook attached to the railing with an arm-jarring crash, and Elsa sped down the rail. She hoped it would take her to Monument Island - it seemed as though everything was trying to prevent her from reaching her sister.

Soon enough, the landing area of Monument Island came into view, some twenty feet below her.

_Oh, no. This is going to hurt._

She detached the sky-hook and fell hard onto the pavement, her knees jarring painfully.

“Ow,” she groaned, not moving a muscle. Her legs hurt, her arm was still in pain, and she wanted nothing more than another vigor.

“Come on,” she said to herself, trying to psych herself up. “You can do this, Elsa. It's for Anna. Everything's for Anna.”

 _Blood for the Queen_. The thought came into her brain without warning and seemingly without cause, and Elsa stiffened in confused shock.

When no further alien thoughts crossed her mind, she straightened, scowling at her aching knees as she did so. “For Anna,” she said, aloud, and forced herself to walk.

A gate barred her way, and she tried to move it; of course it was locked, and the bars were far too close together for her to slip through. She looked wildly for a way past, and when her gaze fell upon a hook dangling some six feet above the gate, at least eighteen feet from the ground, she took a moment to curse whoever had designed the artifact on her arm.

Then she jumped.

The sky-hook must have been magnetized, as her jump was allowed her to reach the hook; it then latched on, and for a moment of terror Elsa imagined the tool slipping from her hand. Before she could think too much about what could go wrong, she swung the sky-hook to detach it, and landed in a crouch. Her knees complained, but didn't give out on her, and she straightened.

She really, _really_ hoped that was the last time she had to use the wretched device.

In front of her rose Monument Island, a gigantic angel that watched over Columbia. And, somewhere within the tower, Anna was waiting for her.

She ignored the warning signs next to the door, and entered. In contrast to the majesty of the exterior, the inside was confined, almost claustrophobic, with large tubes running throughout the corridors, connected to giant machines. In the center of the room was a replica of the angel, surrounded by large signs warning occupants to stay away from “the specimen.”

There was also a bloodstain on the floor.

“Anna?”

Her heart was in her throat. She found herself hoping the blood was from someone else, anyone else…

She pushed open the door, shutting out negative thoughts, forcing herself to believe the blood did not belong to her sister.

She, however, was not able to ignore the disturbing images she saw as she trekked through the tower's interior. One of the first things she saw was a height chart, which started using the familiar silhouette of a five year old girl. Ages 11 and 18 were also recorded and drawn. As she continued to look at this chart, partially wondering why they were studying Anna, she realized that Anna was now eighteen. And she wondered what thirteen years of being in this place had done to her.

Elsa continued on her way through another room, noting the disturbingly invasive photographs of Anna being developed. She noticed the video recordings of Anna, viewed from above, observing her doing random tasks. It made her sick to think these people were watching her this entire time, recording her, studying her like she was some kind of scientific experiment, calling her “specimen” like she wasn't even human.

There was no way Anna could have known they were doing this to her, because to Elsa's horror, there were one-way mirrors scattered throughout the halls, peering in on different rooms. These filthy pigs were scrutinizing her every action, including spying on her in her own bedroom. She needed to get Anna out of there that minute, but finding her in order to do that was going to be diffi--

A sign that said “Specimen Location” was blinking at the dressing room option. That would be exactly where she needed to go.

Following the signs to the dressing room, Elsa held her breath before taking her first step around the corner. This would be the first time she saw her sister in over a decade. She wouldn't be that bubbly, carefree child she knew once upon a time. She was a prisoner, subjected to who-knew-what, and Elsa had no idea of what to expect.

She gritted her teeth and turned to view the window; part of her half-expected her to be indecent, but there she was: dancing around seemingly without a care in the world. She looked normal… happy, much to Elsa's relief. She did not know what assumptions she made, but an ordinary girl with posters on her wall and clothes untidily thrown about her floor was not at the front of her expectations. Anna had become a beautiful young lady, smiling and gazing at herself in her mirror, playing with the twin braids that she'd apparently kept since childhood, and poking at the baby fat on her cheeks with her index fingers, pulling faces.

As Anna made fish-faces at the mirror, and unintentionally at Elsa, the older sister had to fight back laughter. Anna might have been eighteen, but her behavior wasn't too far off from the five-year-old girl who had so eagerly begged her to do the magic.

Her happy smile dropped from her face, and she shook her head. She had a lot to atone for, but that would have to wait until Anna had been rescued.

Speaking of her rescue attempts, Elsa looked up to see that Anna had run off to another room, and Elsa snapped out of her reverie. She hadn't even realized she'd walked toward the window, close enough to touch the glass. She nearly panicked when she registered that Anna had disappeared from her sight again, and quickly ran down the hall in the same direction her sister had gone. The sign ahead said she was in the dining room, so that's where she'd head. She would eventually have to figure out how to get to Anna herself, but for now, she had to keep her within her sight.

She found her again, spotting Anna looking around her room mischievously, like she was about to do something that she knew she wasn't supposed to be doing. Elsa felt herself smiling. Another part of her hadn't changed.

Anna faced a painting of the Eiffel Tower, one that Elsa assumed she painted herself, and brought her hands to her front side where they were out of Elsa's view. She tried getting a better look. What was she doing to her painting? Was she tearing it apart?

When it looked like she was about to rip the canvas in half, a ring of light spread in front of Anna, causing the older woman to draw in a sharp breath. In the center of the light, it appeared as though Anna had busted a giant hole in her wall and it would lead her to what looked to be France, which wasn't anywhere near the floating city.

Portal magic or whatever magic this was, it was powerful, and Elsa knew nothing of what dangers came of it, much less how Anna learned to do it. Elsa may have used magic herself, but she knew enough to know how hazardous it could be.

Anna's face, blue and still, floated in front of Elsa's eyes. She knew all too well the risks of powerful magic.

Anna closed the portal or whatever that was and moved on to another room. Elsa followed down the hall. Fortunately she spotted her in the library, which surprised her. Anna was the one who made Elsa read stories to her. Perhaps she learned to enjoy reading.

Unfortunately, the hall led her to the outside of the tower. She wasn't afraid of heights, but considering that a small chain was the only thing keeping her from being blown off the ledge to her death, she could understand why someone might have a phobia of them.

“You're so close to her now. This is nothing.” Elsa kept reminding herself as she trusted the metal stairs to hold her weight. She walked through the next door, located in the side of the angel's head, and patted down her hair, which was messed up more than it usually was. Despite herself, she felt a little self-conscious, and swept her hair back until it felt right again.

The trust she put into the construction of this tower was apparently misplaced. As soon as her guard was down, the floor dropped out from under Elsa's feet, and she fell into the room below. Her arms managed to grab onto the ledge to break her fall.

She looked up and Anna was, of all places, right in front of her, eyes wide and curious, lips curling into a smile.

“Hi." Elsa said through a groan.

"Hi!" Anna replied.

Elsa meant to return the smile, until her weight pulled on her hand muscles in a painful manner, causing her to lose her grip and fall to the floor.

“Oh my gosh, are you alright!” Anna called from the top of the staircase. In one quick motion, she jumped onto one of the stair rails and slid down, leaping off before she fell herself, and ran to the older woman's side. “I'm sorry, I should've helped you up instead of let you fall.” She pulled her to her feet and dusted her off. She got a hint of Anna's scent. She smelled sweet… and clean. And Elsa wondered if she'd ever remember what that felt like.

She got a better look of her up close. Her cheeks were rosy and vibrant, her blush was dusted over her countless, adorable freckles. Her hair wasn't a solid strawberry blonde. On her right side was a streak of white, possibly a fashion statement she picked up somewhere.

The younger woman's eyes glistened like she was near tears. Elsa's eyes widened. After everything that happened, after all of these years, Anna recognized her?

“What's your name?”

Elsa grimaced. Of course. It hurt, knowing that she didn't remember her. Then again, she probably wouldn't be so happy to see her if she had. But once she got her out of there, she would be able to form new memories with her.

“Elsa.”

The moment was interrupted by a whistling tune, coming from above.

“It's coming…” Anna whimpered. She started forcibly escorting Elsa out of the library, fear stricken in her eyes. “You have to…” She bit her lip. “You have to go. Now. Right now.” She was trying to be firm, trying to be brave, but it was obvious to Elsa that she didn't want her to leave.

“But why? What's going on?”

“You just don't want to be here--” Anna then called up the hole in the ceiling Elsa had made. “Hold on! Wait, please!”

“No, I'm going to get you out of here.”

“What are you going to do? Build a magic staircase up to the ceiling?” Anna asked. Sarcasm or not, Elsa genuinely considered it.

It was an option. But it wasn't a good one. She would not use her ice powers in front of her sister, not again. She then remembered the key that the Bjorgman twins gave her, and reached into her pocket.

“I have a key.” she presented it to Anna.

“Oohhhh!” the younger woman marveled, picking it up. She held it up to her face, then spun it so that the handle flashed two images in quick succession: a bird, then a cage, then a bird again. Anna lost control of the rotation and accidentally dropped the key, flushing as she picked it back up. Deciding against any further examination, she ran over to the thick, heavy door that should have been a library exit and used the key on the lock. It worked, and the door opened, letting Anna and Elsa squeeze through it. The whistling coming from the walls was turning into angry screeching.

Elsa followed Anna down the stairs, trying to catch up to her now-sprinting sister. The entire building began to shake, and screws were being popped out of place from the force of impact. Doors were being crushed. Beams supporting the structure were being knocked out of place. The tower was being destroyed by...something, Elsa wasn't sure what.

The two girls were doing their best to avoid piles of wood from falling on top of them. Anna was yelling for Elsa to hurry. It was all she could do to be heard over the roars from both the collapsing building and whatever was chasing them.

She was knocked off her feet when three large claws broke through the metal wall, carving a wound into the angel statue. She couldn't get a look at what those claws were attached to, ducking her head under her arms from the falling debris. When she looked up again and attempted to stand, her ankle gave way from under her, and she fell again.

“Anna!” she yelled. She had to make absolutely sure Anna escaped safely. She couldn't do that if she was dead.

The redhead ran back to her, scooping her up with ease and running towards the elevator. The girl's strength came as quite a surprise to Elsa. “How did you know my name?”

“N-Not now!” Her voice bobbed along with Anna's running.

By the time they made it to the elevator, Anna saw exactly what Elsa was looking at earlier. The one-sided mirrors, only Anna now saw her room from the perspective of her captors. She looked horrified, ashamed, and confused. She really did not know she was being spied on.

“What… what is all of this?” she asked, not really expecting Elsa to know. She let Elsa out of her arms, and Elsa held onto the wall for support. “They were watching me all this time? Why? Why did they put me in here?” She looked to Elsa, frightened at what the answer may be, whether Elsa could provide one or not. “What am I!” she demanded.

“You're my--”

Three claws burst through the elevator door, almost knocking Anna off her feet. Tiles broke from the wall, when the monster tried reaching for them, but the claws were just too wide to fit. A bright red light shown on Elsa, coming from what appeared to be a large eye in the side of a big metal bird's head. It screeched aggressively like before, but up close the sound was painfully loud, blasting out Elsa's ears.

One large, leather-covered, human-like hand reached through the door towards the two cornered women, and the elevator car came crashing down from above, colliding into the creature's head and sending it down what was left of the elevator shaft, causing sparks to fly from the loose cables, breaking support beams and other large pieces of the building to go with it.

A large beam fell and conveniently made a bridge for them to cross over to the stairs.

Anna kneeled in front of Elsa, with her back to her. “Get on!” She yelled.

Elsa obeyed, and gestured with her hand holding the Sky Hook, while the other was wrapped around Anna's shoulders, “Go that way! Up the stairs!” She paused when Anna neared the edge to get onto the beam. “And please don't drop me.”

“I'll try!”

Anna ran up with Elsa on her back. They had to keep moving or else the tower was going to collapse on top of them. They were just lucky the stairs were still standing. That monster was destroying everything, and Elsa wasn't sure if it was trying to get her, or Anna, or what it's intentions were, but it was aiming to kill one or both of them.

They ran out of the exit, ending up outside again, and made their way up the tower. A large black wing flashed through some of the clouds whisking by them, causing Anna to stop in her tracks. It escaped somehow and was outside.

The top of the tower shook violently one way, knocking the girls over. Their ground shifted another way, and was suddenly no longer beneath them.

The world was spinning and clouds zipped by them. Elsa couldn't tell which way was up until she saw a screaming Anna reaching out to her.

“Elsa!”

She grabbed her wrist and held onto her tightly.

Below them, the sight of a skyrail appeared from the fog. And the Sky Hook hadn't slipped from her arm. She had one chance to latch the hook onto the rail.

Tightening her grip on Anna's wrist, Elsa stretched out her other arm, hoping for both of their sake that the magnets were strong enough to catch them.

It attached and Elsa hung on to that hook like she never had before, and she and Anna both kept a firm grip on each other. Elsa's arms and shoulders and hands were screaming at her to let go. It felt like her hand was slipping, that her shoulder had been dislocated, and that Anna had broken her forearm in two all at once. And all of this pain was gritted and bared when she noticed the bird monster colliding into scattered blimps just to get after them. If her hands weren't occupied, she'd freeze that thing solid so it would sink to the bottom of the ocean.

The skyrail had them coast down at a rapid pace, relieving some of the stress on Elsa's arms. She looked up and saw the giant dark shadow burst from the clouds, crashing into the rail, just barely missing them - but the rail shattered from the collision ahead of them.

The hook detached from the end of the broken rail. Screaming, the two sisters plummeted into the water.


	6. The Beach

She wasn’t breathing. They hit the water hard, but she hadn’t been under for very long, so why wasn’t she breathing? Even when Elsa leaned her ear over Anna’s mouth, there was nothing coming from it. No water, no air, no adorably awkward comments.

“Anna! Oh Anna, no.” The tears were coming again. She gently cupped her sister’s face with her shaking, damaged hands. “No… please, no.” She couldn’t be… No, she couldn’t. Pinching Anna’s nose shut, Elsa put her mouth over hers, exhaling deep breaths into her over and over, and pausing only to breathe herself.

She did that for several minutes, hardly noticing how much more the ice raft was wobbling as they floated nearer to land. Elsa lost track of how many times she tried to revive Anna, but when she took a moment to check the rise and fall of her chest, Anna began to cough up water.

“Anna?” Elsa nearly forgot to breathe herself, upon realizing that Anna was still alive after all of that.

The young woman unattractively spat out the rest of the water onto the ice, rolling onto her side, groaning. Elsa wanted to throw herself onto her sister, and hug her as close as possible and never let go. But of course, to her, there was that lingering reason not to do that. Just the same, she helped her sit up straight.

“Are you alright?”

“I… think so…” Anna whispered, trying to get her bearings, one hand instinctively clinging to Elsa’s shirt.

Having a weak moment, Elsa held her a minute. It’s not like she could make the ice float faster. She needed to take this opportunity to make sure she had Anna with her. Just a moment to thank goodness that she was alive and well, and by her side at last. But then right behind that thought was the rude reminder that they wouldn’t be safe until they were far, far away from that damned city. Getting Anna out of there where the Snow Queen could never chase her or find her again, that had to be Elsa’s next step. Hugging would have to wait.

The ice raft, which Anna did not question much to Elsa's relief, wriggled more vigorously as it floated ashore. Melting under the warmer water caused it to practically sink under them when they reached the sand. Anna took a shaky step onto the beach, most of her support from Elsa holding her up, barely taking notice of the stinging on her own healing wounds. She supposed the salt from the water was not going to help any. But she could dress her hands properly as soon as they got their own airship.

Comfort came wafting back to Elsa in the form of a familiar delicious scent, coming from the fair attractions scattered around the public beach, where plenty of people sunbathed. She didn’t comment on it, but it did cause her body to relax against Anna, who was supporting herself just fine, but stayed tucked under Elsa’s arm anyway.

Anna inquired, “What is that amazing smell?” She took a deep breath through her nose, Elsa joining her to get a better whiff of it.

“Chocolate,” they said at the same time, causing each other to laugh. Normally one would jinx the other, but Elsa felt too good in a long time to demand silence from her sister.

“Could we get some, Elsa? Please?” Anna asked, giving Elsa big puppydog eyes.

What Elsa would give to get Anna some chocolate. If only she had extra money to get some. She only had enough for two tickets to get on an airship. It wouldn’t do to rob it, and letting her be aware of her pathetic state wouldn’t help the situation. Instead, she hoped a distraction would divide her attention to something better. “They have better chocolate elsewhere.”

“Oh yeah? Like where?” she said skeptically, as if no other chocolate was better than the chocolate closest her.

“Like…” She quickly recalled the French-themed items in Anna’s gilded cage of a room. Elsa had an idea of a place Anna would rather be. “Like Paris.”

“Paris? Are you saying we can get to Paris? How?” That certainly grabbed Anna’s attention from the tempting purchase.

“We’ll take an airship there. And once we’re there… I’ll buy you more chocolate than you know what to do with.”

Anna frowned, as though seriously considering the offer. “I don’t think Paris is made entirely out of chocolate,” she said, still serious.

A smile tugged at Elsa’s lip, which made Anna lose what little control she’d had, and burst out laughing, suddenly forgetting all the danger they were just put in barely an hour ago, and playfully pulling the older woman along by her uninjured hand. Elsa felt herself smiling again, and did her best to keep up with Anna’s enthusiasm. She wished it could be like this all of the time.

It would, she assured herself. At least, it would as soon as the danger of the Snow Queen had passed.

Unfortunately the poor girl’s mood had been doused upon encountering many off-putting posters of the queen that were scattered about the place. Elsa wasn’t sure if Anna had seen the face of the queen before, but she could empathize with her discomfort. Elsa squeezed her hand a little, in hopes of reminding her that better times were on their way. Anna smiled up at her, soon after getting distracted by shiny trinkets being presented by… the Bjorgman twins. Again.

Kristoff spoke first. “The bird?”

Then Krista. “Or the cage?”

“No, she definitely wants the bird.”

“What are you? A broach expert? The cage is much better.”

Anna looked back and forth from the two siblings, more specifically what they were holding, and then showed them both to Elsa. “Which one should I get, Elsa? You pick one for me, and you can have the other one, so we’ll match!”

They were, as the twins had said, two broaches, similar in design. The left one was a beautifully stylized cage, the right one was a similarly designed bird in mid-flight. Neither symbols appealed to Elsa at all, nor would they for a long time. “You can have the…”

Now Elsa was reading too far into this. The cage was symbolic to Elsa for many reasons, none of them good. And the bird was really no better. But she supposed at least birds represented freedom in some cultures… “You should have the bird.”

Anna smiled and put her broach on, and then put the other on Elsa. She seemed very proud to be part of a matching set. She thanked the Bjorgmans.

“Should’ve picked the cage.” said Krista as they both walked away again.

“What’s wrong? Sore loser?” Kristoff asked with a smirk.

Krista scoffed. “Hardly. But I don’t trust her judgement.” Elsa could barely hear them carrying on as she looked at Anna showing off her broach to her. Taking a moment to appreciate how precious she was in that moment, swaying in place and silently asking Elsa’s approval.

Shrieks of panic came from behind them as people rushed to the edge of the boardwalk. Elsa was prepared to make a break for it with her sister in tow, but it didn’t seem that people were crying because of her. Anna turned to try to see what they were looking at, and let out a breathless gasp. Smoke was rising from behind the clouds in the distance, to reveal what they had been hiding.

The angel statue in which Anna was held captive had been demolished. It’s head was completely missing, most of the upper body was damaged, and the smoke was streaming in thick clouds from the interior. Elsa wished that the entire thing had collapsed, but looking at Anna, she wondered how she felt. That had been her home this entire time. Truly, it was a cage disguised as one - but the difference did not seem of much importance to Anna, who stared at the statue in disbelief, her hands fidgeting.

It would do neither of them any good if they stayed. So Elsa ushered her into the amusement center. Everyone was still on high security, doing close inspections of the guests, patting down even the least likely of people to cause trouble. Policemen were angrily yelling at children, the elderly, and everyone in between. There was no way she was getting through. Anna might, but there was no way Elsa was letting her out of her sight now.

She continued down one of the halls. Hopefully they could get around the crowds and just get onto one of the zeppelins without anyone noticing who they were. Elsa did not want to draw attention to them by doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. But the only door leading away from them was locked when Elsa tried opening it. Obviously, they’d have to find another way.

Anna jumped in front of Elsa, pulling a hairpin from her gingery locks, and started fiddling around with the door knob.

“Anna, what are you doing?” she whispered.

“I’m eating marshmallows, what does it look like I’m doing?” she sassed in a playful manner before pushing the door open. “Voila!”

“Where on earth did you learn to pick locks?”

“Eh, you know,” She swung her hips confidently, looking ridiculous in the process. “When you’re stuck in one place with nothing to do, you can get pretty bored. Plus, I, you know, tried escaping plenty of times too.”

The two of them slipped past security and scurried through the amusement facility, passing right by folks who were too busy having a blissfully good time, not even noticing the catastrophe outside. They finally reached the ticketmaster to get on an airship, but he was too busy chatting away on the phone to give them service.

“Excuse me, sir? I would like two tickets for passage to the First Lady airship.” He didn’t pay her any mind. She looked back at Anna, who seemed surprised that Elsa of all people would be denied help. Anna shrugged and Elsa turned back to the clerk.

This was most annoying. Elsa normally didn’t care to be waited on hand and foot, but to deliberately be ignored by someone on the clock was simply a bad trait to have in the customer service department. She had no idea that the people of Columbia had such terrible work ethic. She dinged the service bell.

“Can you help me, please?” Again, she was ignored. And so she began impatiently tapping her fingers on the table. She could’ve sworn she heard him mumble something about a bird, and Elsa immediately felt that something was wrong. Just the word “bird” began to make her paranoid.

“Of course, ma’am,” the man said, finally turning to her. “Sorry about the wait!” Elsa cried out in pain as the man stabbed through her right hand, pinning her to the table.

“Elsa!” Anna cried seeing what the man did to her. She ran to Elsa to help her, but a man jumped her from behind.

“Anna!” She had to save her. She braced herself and pulled the knife from her hand. Blood poured from the wound onto the floor. Anna did well fending off the first agent, punching him and kicking him where it hurt and knocking him to the floor. But the instant Elsa saw a man from across the room whip out a rifle, she flicked her wrist and pinned him to the wall with spears of ice.

Her sister rightfully screamed in horror, and Elsa continued to counter-attack them by hurling icy magic at them, and this time not to simply frighten them into running away. They would never run away. They wouldn’t stop coming after them until Elsa was dead and Anna was captured. And Elsa had to protect Anna from them.

More men fell at Elsa’s hand. But when the coast seemed clear, Anna was no where to be found. She frantically searched for her. They couldn’t possibly have caught her, could they? Elsa ran up the stairs, breathing heavily.

“Anna!”

“Stay away from me!”

She looked up and Anna was running… from her. Anna was afraid of her, and afraid of her curse. That was one of Elsa’s biggest nightmares come true, and it finally happened. She knew she should’ve concealed her powers. They were nothing but trouble, and they always have been. They brought her and Anna nothing but grief and no good ever came from them.

As sorry as she felt for Maleficent, she wished that she hadn’t forced her to use her ice magic. After years of not using it, suddenly bringing it back to practice seemed so natural.

And killing those men seemed so easy. It was easy.

Oh where was Anna? Elsa had to make this right between them. But would Anna understand? Would she forgive her for being this way? Elsa would never have forgiven herself, so she would not expect Anna to.

Elsa hadn’t noticed herself crying until finally catching up with her sister outside a trolley.

“Anna!” she yelled, continuing to run after her as she dried her eyes on her sleeve. “Can I talk to you please?”

“No!” she spat, running inside of the cockpit.

When she finally reached her, Anna was pitifully attempting to get the car moving, pulling on the lever incorrectly. Elsa sighed, and pulled it the way it was meant to, by squeezing the break and then moving the bar. The gondola started. Anna would not look at her. Her back was turned, her arms were crossed, and her shoulders were hunched up. A position that Elsa was much too comfortable in.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Anna whispered. “They’re all dead...” She whipped around, glaring with fists clenched, her face scrunched up with disgust. “You killed those people!”

Elsa winced. “Anna, I…”

Anna’s breath was trembling when she shouted, “You’re a monster!” She shoved her, a bit stronger than Elsa was expecting from such a small woman. She stumbled back a bit, trying her best to not show the hurt on her face. Anna finally saw her true self, and it struck hard, and cut deeper, and hurt worse than any of Elsa’s injuries thus far.

“And what did you expect would happen, Anna?” She did her best impression of a big sister, her chin held high, eyes half-lidded. It was a pathetic attempt, but she managed to keep the calm in her voice.

“What?”

“Do you understand the expense that people went through to keep you locked in that tower?” Elsa paused a moment as Anna pondered her question. Elsa did not want to justify the terrible use for her powers. But she had no other choice. She continued, to make a point.

“Do you think they’re just going to let you go? Do you know what might happen if they bring you back, now that you know what they know?” Her voice broke at the thought of her being caught, and what would happen if Elsa allowed it.

She sighed, and continued once more. “To them, you are an investment. And you will not be safe until you are far away from here.”

With tears welled in her eyes, Anna looked to her sister, desperately looking for an answer. “What do they want from me?” If only Elsa had the one answer she wanted.

“I don’t know… but I won’t let something like… that… happen ever again.” And Elsa meant it. They wouldn’t stop chasing them. But she was going to avoid being driven to kill.

There was silence between them. It wasn’t a comfortable silence. But Elsa believed that Anna understood that serious actions were taken to keep her trapped inside. She just hoped that she didn’t blame herself for it. None of this was her fault, and it never was. Elsa wanted so badly to wipe the tears from Anna’s eyes, but she wouldn’t dare touch her.

Finally noticing the excruciating pain, Elsa hissed softly and looked at both of her damaged hands. One was burned all the way up her forearm, and the other was still bleeding from the stab wound. This world was merciless on her hands. Both felt terribly raw from constant vigorous use and not a day’s rest. Elsa never liked her hands, mostly because of the magic, but for once she wished that they were back to how they used to be.

“Oh my gosh, Elsa!” Anna exclaimed. “Your poor hands…” She reached her own hands up to take Elsa's, but thought better of it. The younger woman kneeled down to one of the drawers of the gondola and managed to find a first aid kit. She properly cleaned, disinfected, and dressed the older woman's hands in gauze wraps. Hopefully in time her hands would go back to their normal form.

Elsa silently thanked her, letting Anna hold her hands. It was a simple gesture, but one that meant the world to her. Minutes passed and the younger sister pulled away, for fear of making it worse. Her darling Anna could never make anything worse. She could only make everything better, as far as Elsa was concerned.

 


	7. To The First Lady

The trolley took them to the Soldier’s Field Welcome Center, according to the sign. Anna informed Elsa that, according to one of the books on Columbia she’d read, Main Street connected everything and would eventually take them to the First Lady Aerodrome.

The entrance to the welcome center was an atrium decorated with bright colors, upbeat marching music, mechanical soldier caricatures, and flags. It was probably more welcome and fun when the place had people in it. But seeing it in this light only disturbed Elsa. It was obviously designed to attract children - the Queen’s method to indoctrinate her future military, to teach children to grow up and serve her. It glorified war. And it was disgusting.

The lights and power turning off took Elsa out of her brooding state. Electricity buzzed violently from some of the mechanical soldiers, and smoke seeped out from others. Even the metal doors fell, as if putting the building on lockdown.

That was odd. This entire time, she'd never had technical difficulties, aside from civilians manually turning off the power in an attempt to trap her back at the fraternity building with the crows. Why was the power shorting out now? And how were they supposed to get to the airship when they were locked inside?

Elsa approached one of the metal gates and looked at it hopelessly. Her ice magic was good for many things. Opening doors was not one of them, unless she wanted to blast through the wall -  a maneuver best suited for last resorts.

"Here!  Let me help," Anna offered as she crouched down to the bottom of the gate.  She tried pulling it up with her knees.  Once, nothing.  Twice, still nothing.

“It’s too heavy, you’re not going to be able to--”

With a cry of victory, Anna lifted the gate with both hands on the third try. Needless to say, Elsa was stunned. Giving the younger woman a onceover, and a dazed smirk, she passed under her to the other side of the steel door.

On the wall across from them was another advertisement. This was apparently for a new vigor. The mere thought of drinking a new one seemed like a very good idea.

“Shock Jockey.” Elsa read aloud from the next hall over. “Who needs the power company?”

Anna dropped the gate and joined her as Elsa continued to read the poster in silence.

It also read “Exclusively from the Fink Industries”. The name “Fink” made her blood boil. She thought back on that sleaze of a man mistreating those two women back at the raffle, and silently hoped they managed to escape through all the panic she caused. She had hoped she could forget about that man, but it appeared as though he was responsible for a lot of technology in this city. Crooked people ran crooked cities.

“Apparently these guys actually do need the power company.” Anna said sarcastically, which got a bit of a laugh out of Elsa. Leave it to her little sister to snap her out of a terrible mood.

Once outside, they got a good view of the First Lady, which appeared to be heading toward the docks. Elsa kept walking toward the gondola ramp, but she didn't notice that Anna had stopped.

”Keep close, Anna.” She called back to her, as she neared the ramp. She tried the controls to summon the trolley, but the Tesla coil sparked and malfunctioned. This Shock Jockey nonsense was defective. But it was a good excuse to give it a taste… Maybe they could buy some and-- No. They had already been here much longer than Elsa had meant to be. She was so close to getting Anna out of there. She shouldn’t dare think about going back to those drinks. She silently vowed to quit right there.

The gondola eventually showed up. Anna scurried in through the doors before Elsa, with some odd urge to be the first to enter. Elsa rolled her eyes as she followed her, and activated the gondola to make it ascend. The doors closed behind them. Luckily, the trolley worked for the two young women.

At least until the car violently came to a halt and the lights went out yet again. Anna grabbed on to the wall for support, and looked around frantically. Elsa wasn’t even surprised anymore.

“What’s wrong?” Anna gasped.

“The power is out.” Elsa said flatly.

“Noooo, really?”

“The gondola runs on Shock Jockey.” She ignored the nagging feeling that she should’ve bought one while she had the chance. “I’ll have to fix it… somehow.” she said softly, looking around the trolley car. It was habit to her at this point.

On the opposite wall, she saw a little cabinet door labeled “power”. She opened it up to reveal buttons and switches. She didn’t have an idea of what any of these meant, but she assumed they contained the power to move the car back and fourth. In the back of her mind, she cursed herself and licked her lips, thirsting for that vigor right about now, but it was too late for that. She wasn’t about to leap out of the car and slide down the skyrail and backtrack to waste hours of her precious time.

A thought occurred to her. She could try her magic…  She looked back at Anna, who was blissfully unaware of what she was thinking about. She hated to use her magic in front of her, or even behind her back. It wasn’t necessary for her to hide it, but she felt the need to block off Anna’s view of her. Her hands began to glow, applying small amounts of ice to the wires.

A slight buzzing could be heard from behind her as she tried sneaking use of her magic.

“Ah! A bee! How did it even get in here?” Anna cried.

“Hit it with your shoe, Anna, before it stings you.”

“But I don’t want to kill it!”

“Anna…”

“Oh wait! I have an idea.” There was a pause. But as soon as she heard grunting from Anna, it got Elsa’s attention and she turned to look at her. Anna looked like she was trying to rip the Songbird poster off the wall from the center outward. “I’m so silly, why… didn’t I think… of this… sooner?” On the last beat, her arms flew open, and a bright flash of light practically blinded Elsa.

She gasped sharply and cringed. Once her vision cleared, Anna wasn’t standing just inside of the trolley, but she was also standing in front of an open window, and outside was a bright blue, clear sky and bushes with flowers, and the bee flew out to them.

“What is that?” Elsa asked, leary. She had seen Anna do that before, but not sure what it meant or did, she also wasn’t sure she wanted to be near it.

“It’s a window!”

“I… I know it’s a window, but what is that? What did you do?”

“Oh that. I mean, this! This is just a tear. I open them all the time, it’s no big deal.”

With catlike caution, Elsa approached the “tear” but wouldn’t pass the light that divided the cart from the window sill. “What is a tear, exactly?”

“It’s like a uh…” Anna tried finding the right words, gesturing with her hands in an attempt to pick the right one. “A window.”

Elsa blinked at her. Seriously?

“I’m not good at analogies, okay? It’s just, it’s like a window to another world. That’s all I got.” Anna looked out the window and breathed in the fresh air. Elsa found herself enjoying the breeze from outside along with Anna. “You know, sometimes I’d open them up to entirely different places. And I’d walk through them.”

What? She would use these… strange door-opening powers, leave for an afternoon, and then come prancing back to her… prison? Her cage? “But you’d… always some back?”

Anna chuckled, but it wasn’t because anything Elsa said was funny. “Yeah, I… I did.”

“But why? You could’ve escaped this whole time. You could’ve been happy. Why did you come back?”

“I don’t know… family?”

Family. What family had ever done right by her? What family would keep this wonderful girl locked away? Even Elsa had...well. It was a confusing thing to think about. Staying, even if you had the choice to leave. But wherever this “tear” was opened to, it seemed a lot better than where they were. It was a temptation to walk through it with Anna, and never come back.

Elsa opened her eyes with a sigh, and gasped at the sight of the silhouette of a bird flying through the clouds. It was definitely not her newly-formed paranoia of birds, because it was definitely not the size of a bird. Angry red light shot from the flying creature’s eyes right onto Elsa and Anna’s location. It was Songbird.

“Oh no!” Anna shouted, pushing her arms together frenziedly.

“Close it,” Elsa urged, wide eyes locked on Songbird, who was flying right at them.

"I-I'm trying!" she cried as she tried again and again to close the tear. It was going to get them through that window if she didn’t hurry. The beast flew faster, closer, growing larger as it neared them.

“Close it!” Elsa yelled over Songbird’s exponentially loud screeching, and Anna’s frantic cries of fear.

The window and Songbird disappeared in another flash of light. The window was now the inside of the gondola, where the poster of Songbird remained. It did not provide any comfort. That was the thing, the Aurora, that Maleficent asked her to save? How did she even expect her to do that when all it did was try to kill her?

Anna panted heavily, backed up against the same wall as Elsa, who glared down at the younger woman, disapprovingly. She ducked down in shame, and tucked an invisible strand of hair behind her ear. The gondola had started moving again, which Elsa didn’t notice while she was fearing for her and Anna’s life. When the bell dinged and the gondola came to a complete stop, Anna motioned to get off, avoiding eye contact.

"I don't really understand what I saw back there,” Elsa started, forcing Anna to listen to her. “But it sure as hell looks like a shortcut to getting us killed."

She angrily turned around to face Elsa, putting her foot down in an annoyed gesture that was oddly endearing. "What, you're the only one who gets to have magic powers?” She sassed. In a dramatic gesture, Anna swept her bangs back, and threw her pigtails to one side, in mock of the older woman. “Ooooh, I'm Elsa, and I'm the only person who's mature and responsible enough to do magic!"

"Anna, that's not exactly the way to show you're mature or responsible---"

" _PHLLLLBLTTTTT_ " A raspberry was blown in Elsa’s direction. Anna had “won” that argument. Her stomping ahead of Elsa emphasized that point.

Her little tantrum was cut short upon entering the First Lady Aerodrome. Elsa was immediately forgiven. Anna gently took Elsa's hand and skipped ahead with a big smile, excited to finally reach the airship that would take them to Paris. It was a long trip for the younger woman, and she would have lots of questions for Elsa, but those were low-ranking compared to finally leaving. And without that itching feeling to come back to her shining dungeon.

The First Lady was magnificent to Anna. She hadn't seen an airship up close before, let alone ridden in one. While the ship was large, it was average compared to zeppelins Elsa had seen. She had also seen prettier ones that weren’t posing as flying symbols of self-absorption.

Elsa sneered at the picture of the Snow Queen which was displayed on the side of the ship. It was tacky and failed to make the zeppelin the least bit aesthetically pleasing. It partially made her pine for a sailing ship, just so she could be anywhere but in the air. At least the gold and burgundy interior was luxurious, and would make for a comfortable trip. Maybe Elsa could even take a nap.

She wished she could feel as excited as Anna, but she wouldn't be until they were miles away from Columbia. Once she climbed in, Anna closed the door behind her with a giggle.

“Oh! Elsa, this is so exciting! Paris!” she came up from behind her and hugged her tightly. Elsa blinked in surprise, not looking at Anna, but down at the arms looped around her waist. She put one of her wrapped hands on Anna’s forearm and smiled. “You know, we don’t have to just do Paris. We can travel all over the world in this thing! What do you say?”

“I’ll leave where we go up to you, Anna.” She smiled, looking down at the controls. It appeared as though the ship was capable of navigating longitude and latitude automatically. She put in the coordinates, N48 and E002, and the First Lady did the rest. At least now she could let herself breathe.

 


	8. Boarded

She should have known that it would only be a matter of time before someone caught up to them. They were a couple hours into their flight when Elsa noticed an unfamiliar crimson zeppelin coming up from the rear. Anna was asleep in the back and she had to wake her.

She turned around to run to her sister when she heard a loud ‘thump' coming from above. Someone was boarding their airship. Not even a second later, Elsa heard the sound of shattering glass from Anna's room.

“Anna!” she yelled, running to the back, only to have the side door of the First Lady broken open. She tossed her hand forward and blasted magic at the intruder, being sure to aim for his hands to keep him from shooting the gun. Another man came in from behind him and ran at her. She blasted magic at him, but he dodged and the ice hit his companion who was knocked to the ocean below..

His ruse caught Elsa off guard, and he struck her in the head with his fist to knock her unconscious..

* * *

 _I could really use a Vigor right now_ , Elsa thought.

The loud ringing in her ears was terrible, and a perfect, hellish match to the view of imprisoned men and women below. They all wore prison uniforms, and were being sorted onto a man-woman-man-woman line. Watching over these poor souls was another robotic old man, similar to the Fireman Elsa had first encountered. From his chubby face, his one biological eye stared up at her while the other, mechanical eye glinted the light of the setting sun into her face.

The glint brought Elsa back to reality, where she noticed she was being hung halfway out the open door of her and Anna's airship.

She gasped, nearly panicking that she could've fallen to her death just then. From inside, she could hear Anna struggling and yelling. “Anna!” Elsa cried out, finally able to hear properly again. She felt herself being pulled in, and yet it was not the kindest of gestures.

“She's awake.” said the man, still with a firm grip on Elsa's bound arms, still tilting her out the open door, threatening to drop her. She looked up at him. He was pale with pink cheeks, blue tattoos, an angry guise, and large, flowing, black locks of hair.

The only head of hair that was bigger than his was the fluffy, fiery curls on the small woman before her. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and stood only to give Elsa a rude, mildly-inconvenienced look. What could Elsa have done to ruin her day, she wondered bitterly.

“So you're this ‘False Queen' we've been hearin' so much about.” The woman… girl's accent was thick, but Elsa could still understand her. She finally got a better look. She was shorter than Elsa by a few inches, if you didn't count the crazy mop on her head.

“Elsa!” Anna exclaimed from the corner. She was being restrained by a man four times her size, but he definitely looked frightened for his own safety. He had a fresh, shiny bruise under his eye, and she immediately knew who he must have received that from. At least Anna was free of harm. Elsa looked around and saw that her ship had become a sort of hospital. There were cots set up along the walls of the main room, and laying on them were bloodied, injured people.

Anna continued, “Elsa, these jerks hijacked our airship! Freeze their butts!”

She would love to. But scaring off the armed people was easier than getting both them and the incapacitated removed from there.

“You caused a heap load of trouble at the Raffle.” the young lady continued, staring Elsa down. How dare she speak to her that way. Who was this woman?

Elsa looked her over, and compared her to the other men standing guard. They were all wearing red, like the airship that snuck up on them. The colors contrasted against all the blues the Snow Queen decorated her city with. She then recalled the radio report when Elsa caused the people to panic. They had called her...

“Are you Vox Populi?” Elsa asked.

“Merida Fitzroy.” The girl nodded proudly, but crossed her arms.

“Anna and I don't mean you any harm. We just want our ship back, so we can--” she explained.

“Your ship?” Merida sneered. “I wasn't born yesterday, missy. Judging from the portrait on the outside, it looks like the Snow Queen's ship.”

Great. So she thought they were with the Snow Queen. “Yes, it is her's. But we took it. We don't want to fight.”

“There's already a fight.” she gestured angrily at the wounded men and women behind her that were being tended to by the few nurses they appeared to have. “But the real question is, which side are you on?” She firmly pressed an accusing finger into Elsa's chest.

She was not going to answer that. If she lied and picked a side, Vox included, all she would be doing is endangering Anna. She was not with the Queen, but she would also not pretend to be an ally of the Vox - especially if it meant working under these supposedly righteous protesters.

“The Queen isn't a queen at all. She's a tyrant! A beast!” Merida continued. “She says our fate is not our own. But we know better.” Elsa squinted at her. “If you believe in freedom, you join the Vox! If you believe in equal rights to all people, including people like you, join the Vox! You can fight with us to change your destiny.”

It was true that she did not like how people in this city were judged. She did not agree with it. Part of her even wanted to stop it. But she wanted no role in this little war between these two groups. She wanted what was best for Anna. She also didn't want to be dropped to the ground. “I just want my ship back.” Elsa growled.

“And the Vox will give it to ya.” Merida said. Elsa was not convinced. “But first. You gotta help the Vox.” She pulled out a business card and held it up for Elsa to see. “Down in Finkton, there's a gunsmith. He supplies weapons to our cause.” She tucked the card into Elsa's shirt between her breasts and gave them a little pat. Of all the-- “Get our guns back. You'll get yer gammy ship back.”

The man released Elsa's arm and let her fall. The fall was only a few feet, and shorter than she was prepared for. But she was definitely grateful it wasn't a twenty foot drop. To an extent. And only for a few seconds, because they pushed Anna right on top of her, and it practically broke her ribs.

“Ow! Anna!” Elsa yelled, trying to lift some of the weight off her chest.

“Hey, it wasn't my idea to land right on top of you, okay?” she spat, rolling off the older woman.

Once they gathered themselves, the two made their way through the factory town. The entire district was dominated by tall clock towers, huge factories, and proud golden statues of Hans Fink. If one bothered to look down instead of up, they would see the reason why everything was built with such high quality: the poor, starving Finkton workers. The entire place had unacceptable living conditions for its inhabitants.

Unfortunately, Elsa could not bring herself to put Anna in jeopardy more than she already did just to help them. If Merida was as good as she said she was, then these people would get their help. But it was not something she was counting on. She counted on bringing Anna to Paris, and that's what she was going to do.

And so they made their way into the factory. Elsa gave Anna a brief recap of what they needed to do, while she got a better look at the business card. The name of the gunsmith was Ping Li.

They snuck into the factory, thanks to Anna's increasingly handy lockpicking skills, and found an elevator that would take them through Finkton. They noticed a WANTED poster with their gunsmith's name on it. Evidently he'd drawn attention to himself, and no doubt it was because of his association with the Vox. Drawing attention from the public was not a very smart move to make in this world, as Elsa had learned the hard way.

As the elevator took them down, a loudspeaker gave them a better idea of Hans Fink's company policies for their workers - and it was downright criminal. Fink put business above the safety of the employees, and forced them to use his own currency. Using honey bees as a role model for humans to follow. Elsa knew enough to know there was a reason humans couldn't function as bees - simply because they weren't bees.

Fink was a worse man than Elsa originally thought. He was more than a disgusting, flamboyant womanizer. Part of her wished she could go after him and the Queen and rid the world of them both. It would make everyone a great deal happier.

The emergency phone within the elevator car began to ring. Elsa thought to ignore it, like she did many things.

“You should pick that up.” Anna suggested.

“Why?”

“Maybe it's for you.”

“Why would it be for me?” Elsa asked, begrudgingly picking up the device. She listened, waiting for the person on the other end to speak first. Anna snugged up close to Elsa so she could hear too.

“Ms. Vår?” asked the disembodied voice of a woman.

“Who is this?” Elsa asked.

“Please hold for Mr. Fink.”

Elsa and Anna groaned in frustration at being put on hold and being forced to listen to terrible music drone on.

“Hello,” Hans Fink said through the phone, all forced enthusiasm and shark's grin.

“Yes--” Elsa began.

“And welcome to Fink Industries! We apologize for putting you on hold. Please wait a few more minutes for the next available representative.”

The awful music returned, and a portion of the elevator froze as Elsa's fingers flexed in irritation.

“Hello, Ms. Vår,” said Fink's all-too familiar voice, after several more minutes. “This is Hans Fink. I've--we, here at Finkton, have our eye on you. And I can tell you right now that you are our top candidate.”

Anna looked at Elsa confusedly, as though to ask if Fink was out of his mind. Which, Elsa reflected, he was, whatever he was proposing.

“And I'm willing to help you with anything you need.” he said, hanging up. It earned a growl from Anna. Elsa just rolled her eyes. Even he couldn't be so stupid to think she forgot that he tried to kill her at his Raffle. Either way, he knew she was there. And Elsa hoped he was afraid for his life behind that earnestness he put on.

As if to make her laugh further, a giant gold statue of Hans came into view of the elevator window.

“Overcompensating much?” Anna asked. Elsa chuckled.

The girls were taken to the lower part of the factory town, where across the plaza outside was Ping Lin's shop. Inside the building, it was loud from the screeching and banging of machinery that was making...Elsa didn't know what, exactly, but the manufacturing process was certainly loud.

A modest Buddha shrine was passed on the way up a flight of flimsy wooden stairs. Elsa was surprised that altar wasn't destroyed by someone already. Elsa doubted the Queen would like it if she found out someone was worshipping a god that wasn't her.

As they looked around calling for Ping Lin, Elsa took notice that some of the work areas was left in shambles. Chairs were knocked over, papers were scattered. And more importantly, there were absolutely no weapons for the Vox. It was like there was a brawl in the middle of this place. If that was what happened, it would explain why there was no one around tending to the workshop.

Elsa looked at Anna and shrugged.

“What are we going to do now?” Anna asked as they descended the stairs.

“I don't know. He was supposed to be here. At least the weapons were supposed to be. We can't look for Ping forever.” She cut herself short upon seeing a man praying to the Buddha altar, who wasn't there before. “Excuse me, sir? I'm sorry to interrupt. But I'm looking for a Mr. Ping Lin.”

The man looked up. He had been crying, Elsa could tell, but he was holding it back. He first spoke in Chinese, but then corrected himself to English. Slow spoken English, but coherent. “Ping is not here. He is gone.”

“Gone?” Anna asked, slowly reaching out to the man.

“They took my husband.”

“Where did they take him?” she pressed.

The man struggled to think for a moment, before it occurred to him where they took his husband. “Good Time Club. They took Ping to the Good Time Club.” He started getting angry, but the tears began to fall when he turned back to Buddha. He yelled at the statue, ignoring Elsa and Anna. “Why did Merida Fitzroy not help Ping!”

They continued down the stairs to go back out to the plaza. If Elsa didn't already think Merida was no good, she certainly did now. Why wouldn't she bother saving someone who'd helped her so much? Ping was endangering himself by giving her weapons for her cause, which supposedly existed to serve the best interest of everyone who had been mistreated by the Queen.

Elsa hoped they could find this Good Time Club before it was too late. If she found Ping, she'd be able to get the Vox their weapons and get their ship back, and as an added bonus, she'd be reuniting him with his husband. At least she would be able to help someone, since she wasn't able to find Aurora like she had promised Maleficent.

Anna managed to spot the club. It looked like it was meant to be fun. But, Elsa thought, “fun” was rather subjective. And when they got closer to the club, they read a scrolling marquee: “ELSA AUDITION TODAY!”

The two women opened the doors, only to be greeted by a bloody corpse hanging from the clock in the lobby. Anna gasped and pressed her forehead into Elsa's arm, clinging to it desperately to get the sight of the body out of her mind. Hans spoke, but from behind the safety of his loudspeakers.

“Ahh, my dear Elsa. You know, the best kind of interview is one where the applicant doesn't know she's being evaluated.” Evaluated? What was she being evaluated for? She ascended the staircase, cautiously looking out for an ambush, as she doubted Hans would show himself. Anna stayed close behind Elsa, clutching her hand with both of her own.

She was protecting Anna. No matter what Hans Fink threw her way, she'd fight. Anything for Anna.

“What do you want, Hans?” She demanded as she pushed the doors open to a theater-type room.

“I've watched you since the other day at the lottery.” he continued, and Elsa could almost hear his grin - all teeth and no humor. “You're a real ladykiller.” His voice lowered, silky-smooth, seductive and charming. “And I assure you - a man like me could use a woman like you.”

 


	9. Finkton

“A man like me could use a woman like you.” Hans purred.

“How dare you insinuate that I would be interested in--”

“Now, now, calm down.” he continued. That was the wrong thing to say to a woman if one wanted her to ‘calm down’. If she ever met him in person again, she would be certain to use the Sky Hook to trim those Neanderthal sideburns of his.

“Surely you’re considerate enough to finish what you started, Elsa. You don’t want to disappoint the other applicants. But I assure you, my money is on you.”

The curtains raised to reveal three creatures - or at least Elsa could barely recognize any hint of humanity in their features.  Their eyes were wide and unblinking, and a fleshy tube burst from the tops of their heads, connecting to their hearts by way of a torn-open ribcage.  Blood seeped from the open chest wound, dripping down their skin, but they took no notice.

Elsa made quick work to freeze all three of them from the neck down, merging all of them to the wood floors to keep them from moving. Hans had planned to kill her by using these... _things_? Did he honestly think that by now she wouldn’t use her magic?

_If it wasn’t for Maleficent, you wouldn’t have_ , she thought to herself.

One of the creatures spoke, its wide eyes fixed on her. “Please,” it groaned. “Kill us.”

Elsa swallowed. It spoke. No…the creature was not “it”. _He_ spoke. _He_ was sentient and of sound enough mind to form words. But they were words Elsa hadn’t wanted to hear from anyone. His plea was undeniable - he and the others were in agony and wanted it to end, but had no way to do it themselves. They were begging her for death.

What had Hans done to these poor men? They had clearly once been human - one had a hunched back, another a fez, and the last wore nothing but a loincloth - but they had clearly been twisted past the point where she could have saved them. Even though Anna was her priority, Elsa wanted to save them if she could. Yet there were things wrong with them that she couldn’t understand - things so wrong that they pleaded for death. There really was nothing for them but a life of horror - either as these monstrosities, or as the Handymen she’d seen at the raffle.

Either way, death would be a mercy.

If her magic was a curse, at least this time it would be a blessing to someone.

But she dared not allow Anna to see. Before, Elsa hadn’t anticipated killing in front of her sister. She’d acted to defend her and that was her only reason to kill. This was different, and not something she wished her sister to witness of her again, not if she could help it. Elsa raised her hand to the three men.

“Don’t look.”

Anna blinked and turned to her sister. “Elsa, what are you-?”

Her fist clenched. The ice around the hunchback shattered, red chunks skidding across the floor, leaving bloody streaks in their wake.

“He is...free,” said the other creature wearing the loincloth, before it and its companion in the fez met the same fate.

There was silence, broken only by the sound of Anna retching. Elsa quickly turned to her, holding her and rubbing her back. She had seen it after all. What a fool she had been thinking she could keep this from her sister. She removed her bandanna from around her neck and gently dabbed Anna’s mouth.  Anna took it and started wiping off her tongue with a dry edge.

“Congratulations, Elsa! You know, when your name was first passed to me, I wasn’t quite sure you were the man--ah, woman--for the job. But now? I can say with certainty that I was quite wrong.”

Still angry at the murders she’d been forced to commit, once again in front of her sister, Elsa hardly spared the pompous windbag a thought. “I’m not interested in your ‘job’, Hans.”

“Oh, I know all about your ‘previous engagement’ with Fitzroy, but do you really want to take her offer over mine?” She heard him laugh into the microphone. “Of course you do. You wouldn’t want to say no to another lady - believe me, I quite understand. But you should consider this side of the fence, if you will - you’ll find the grass quite a bit greener. There are many benefits to working under me, you know. I don’t know what it’ll take, but I promise you this: I will get what I want.”

Elsa was already out of the room, Anna in tow, and in an equally bad mood. Hans was lucky she had more important matters than finding him and giving him a lesson in manners.

The girls made their way down stairs, far below the club, where they found the list of names that were attached to numbered jail cells. They had taken Ping Li away to imprison him and he had been placed in the ninth cell.

They neared the jail cells, obvious from the wretched stench of human waste seeping through the walls. It was clear from the lack of attendance that there was no care for the people thrown into this place. Not that it was a surprise, when compared with how terribly the civilians lived, that the prisoners would have it much worse. And if Hans had anyone imprisoned, it was most likely for reasons Elsa very heartily disagreed with. Considering the moral fiber the man had displayed thus far - or rather, its absence - it was hardly any wonder that the prisoners were neglected, abused, and otherwise treated like animals with him in charge.

There were, however a couple of guards that lingered around, seemingly bored out of their mind when they weren’t harassing anyone. Elsa had to argue with herself for a moment before deciding on incapacitating the two of them by freezing their bodies against the wall. The ice would melt in time, so she didn’t have to feel too guilty about using her magic on them.

Though the two sisters checked each of the cells, none of the men locked up were Ping Li. It was just Elsa’s luck, she thought, that his cell would be the empty one. She walked into the cell to see if there was any sign of where he was taken, and noticed a flight of stairs located at the far end of the room. She was obviously not in a jail cell.

Elsa looked at Anna, who was already bracing herself to go down the stairs. They linked arms, and together descended the stairs with light, slow steps. Once they reached the bottom, a trail of blood could be seen leading into another room. Anna's grip on Elsa's arm tightened as they went, and behind the closed doors they found bloodied tables, knives, and tools.

Anna gasped and got behind Elsa, once again burying her face into her shoulder. Anna had seen it before Elsa, and the elder sister wished she could have prevented her younger sibling from having witnessed the horrific scene before them.

Ping’s body was tied to a revolving chair, a pool of red having drained beneath him over the once-white tiles. His face was mangled beyond recognition, his eyes were swollen shut, his nose was crushed inward. His mouth was removed of several if not all of his teeth, by methods Elsa couldn’t even stomach to think about. Where there weren’t more bruises, there was black burns on his flesh. The only slightly comforting thought was that Ping’s husband couldn’t see him like this.

“This is what Hans meant…” Anna whimpered into Elsa’s shirt. She wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or not. But the truth remained that they were too late, and now they had no one to make Merida’s weapons, and therefore no way of her giving their ship back. Unless there was someone someplace else who could make them.

“We need to find someone else to make those guns.” Elsa said.

“No…”

“He’s dead, Anna.”

A third voice. “What do you see?”

Elsa looked up, raising a hand ready to blast magic, startled by their new company standing in the doorway. The Bjorgman twins. How did they even get here? They were not being followed. Elsa would have noticed if they were.

In his fingers, Kristoff was presenting a coin to his sister.

“I see… heads.” she said.

“I see tails.” he replied.

“Yeah, but that’s your perspective.” Krista added. “Which is obviously the wrong one.”

“What do you see from this side?” Kristoff asked, but looking straight at Elsa.

“Dead.” Krista answered for Elsa. “And that side?”

“Alive.”

They were both now looking at her. But she didn’t understand what they were getting at. What were they trying to say?

“Elsa… Ping...” Anna whispered, actually looking at Ping’s body. But she wasn’t looking at he himself. Elsa gazed down at him laying in the chair. She was confused. What was Anna seeing that she wasn’t?

“This is awkward.” Krista chimed in when the girls were silent for too long, looking at a dead man. At least a dead man that Elsa could see. Anna, however, was looking like she didn’t see him at all.

Then she saw it. A tiny flash of light, like a smaller version of Anna’s magic, just seemingly floating in the air where Ping lied. His body flickered from her vision, disappearing and then reappearing before her. For a few seconds. The longer Elsa stared, she saw nothing but a blood-free, empty chair before her.

“The body’s gone.” Elsa continued.

“It was never here.” Kristoff corrected.

“It’s a tear to a different Columbia....” Anna whispered to Elsa.

A tear like the window Anna made in the elevator, and back at her tower. She wasn’t sure why she could see the tears now. Maybe she had always seen them and just thought them to be a trick of the light. But this was no trick. It was a real tear, and according to Anna it was the same place, only slightly different. She could somehow see that Ping wasn’t there, when he actually was right in front of them. Kristoff said it was never here to begin with, which just sounded plain crazy from Elsa’s perspective.

Kristoff spoke. “The same coin.”

“A different perspective.” Krista finished.

“Heads.”

“Tails.”

“Dead.”

“Alive.”

She could...vaguely...understand. Where they were at that time, Ping was dead. Which meant that they couldn’t get their weapons to Merida, and they couldn’t get their airship returned to them. But in the tear that Anna was seeing, it was a place where Ping wasn’t in jail and tortured. It was a place where he was still alive. Which meant that the “different Columbia” would have weapons. They could bring them back here and get their ship back.

Anna tugged on Elsa’s sleeve, distress still evident in her voice. “We have to go through the tear, Elsa, to this other Columbia, but… if we go into it… I don’t think I’ll be able to bring us back…”

The reason for going to this other Columbia made about as much sense as remaining in this one. Here, they had no chance of getting to Paris. There, Ping would still be alive. If they find him again, then Merida can get her guns. They had to try.

“Okay… open it.” Elsa finally said, taking a deep breath.

Anna reached to the space in front of her, ripping open an invisible wall that only she could see. She threw her arms open, and just like before, a bright flash of light burst in front of Elsa’s eyes. When her vision cleared, they were obviously in the same place as before. Only this time, there was no blood, and no body. But she had a feeling that one dead gunsmith wasn’t the only thing that changed.

Walking into a another reality guaranteed that if one thing was different, then chances were that countless other things would be altered as well. Their return to Ping Li’s gunshop was an obvious sign of it. The walk back to the shop was similar enough, with all of the buildings pretty much all in the same place, from what they could tell. But the Buddha shrine that was once there, was now an altar of the Snow Queen, and the new replacement sent unpleasant shivers down Elsa’s spine.

The machines within the gun factory were turned off as before, but heat radiated from them as though they had recently been in use. At the top of the stairs was a young woman at work. She appeared to be tinkering with a gun. Maybe she was one of Ping’s associates.

“Excuse me, miss?” Elsa said as she calmly, slowly walked up the stairs in as unthreatening a manner as she could. That came quite easily. It helped that she was significantly smaller-built than the other woman. Taller still, but Elsa was not exactly the bulkiest of women.

“Please wait downstairs, I’m busy.”

“We’re looking for Ping Li. Do you know him?”

The woman’s body appeared to flicker in and out of reality. She stared at Elsa and Anna in disbelief, as though she had heard that name before. For a moment, Elsa thought she saw the face of Ping blink through. When she got a better look at her face, she noticed that the woman’s nose had blood dripping from it. What was wrong with her? she wondered.

“I’m… I mean, I don’t go by that name anymore. I’m Mulan Li.”

Anymore?

That was why Elsa saw Ping. Mulan was Ping. They were the same person, just in a different reality.

“We um, we need weapons for Merida.” Anna spoke. “Can you help us?”

“I already gave the Vox their weapons.” Ping… Mulan sneered, going back to her tinkering. Her body continued to flicker between realities, from Mulan to Ping, and her nose continued to bleed. Did she remember being Ping? And if she did, did she also remember what happened to him? Did she remember being dead? If so, it would explain why she seemed a bit vacant.

Just the same, it would appear as though Mulan/Ping gave Merida the guns she wanted. All that was left was to get back to the red-haired woman and get their ship back. She felt a twinge of guilt leaving Mulan, but in the back of her mind she knew that whatever happened in this reality was beyond control. Whatever happened already happened.

They passed Shang praying to the Queen’s statue down the stairs. Once they exited the shop, Anna expressed concern.

“Poor Ping… Mulan…” she corrected, trailing behind the older woman. “Elsa?”

“Yes, Anna?”

“I’m… I’m not sure opening the tear was such a good idea.” Elsa felt her grab onto the back over her shirt. “It’s my fault that she remembers being Ping and remembers being dead. I shouldn’t have brought us here. We could have found another way, like we always did.”

“You couldn’t have known what was going to happen…” she replied delicately. “A door was open. All we did was walk through it.”

Anna nodded, even though she knew Elsa couldn’t see it.

It was clear that Mulan was unhappy. She was probably happiest as Ping, even if his fate ended up being a terrible one. At least in this world, she was with Shang now, and that was a silver lining somehow, even if Elsa couldn’t fully understand it. But perhaps for Ping, living as Mulan was so similar to death, they couldn’t tell the difference.

She looked back to her sister, whose head was downcast, mindlessly looking at the dirt she was kicking up at she walked. Elsa had a clear view of the white streak in Anna’s hair, that went from the top of her head, and was weaved fashionably through her braid. It was a natural color, for what it was; no ginger-colored roots were showing through. It only reminded her of her focus, and what she would inevitably have to confess to Anna.

Anna looked up, catching Elsa staring at it. “If you wanna ask me, ask me.”

Elsa looked away. “Hm? A-About what?”

“My hair.”

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t-”

“It’s alright!” Anna assured, linking arms with Elsa to emphasize her point. “I’ve always had it. This one time I dreamed I was kissed by a troll, and that’s how I got it. But I don’t think that means much...once, I dreamed that I was going to marry some guy with really gross personal hygiene and talked to a reindeer, which goes to show just how much you can trust a dream. I do think Songbird might know the real reason behind it, but...well, it’s not like it’s going to be telling me anytime soon. I mean, it doesn’t even talk!”

Elsa laughed softly, but frowned almost immediately after. “I’m sorry.”

“What for? I like it.” she replied, matter-of-factly. “I’ll bet once we get to Paris, I’ll get all sorts of compliments on it.” She tossed her hair dramatically. “It’s haute couture.”

She slightly envied her sister’s sense of optimism, as irrational as it was. For all her efforts in learning about this new Anna, between the constant running and danger, remnants of the Anna she knew long ago shone through. In this case, it was her faith and genuine view of a situation. She always tried to see the good in things. She loved her sister for that. Which reminded her, she needed to tell her the truth about her past sooner than later.

A man running by stopped in his tracks, and stared at Elsa. He was wearing red on his clothes, and was holding a gun, but it was not aimed at anyone. But the look in his eyes looked to be a mixture of fear and surprise. Did he know her?

He spoked, "Y-You're Elsa! The hero of the Vox!"

 


	10. Complicating The Narrative

 

The man said nothing more, and ran away through Fink Manufacturing, looking back at Elsa, as though checking to see if she was still there.

“Oh my gosh, Elsa!” Anna shouted.

In a panic, Elsa rushed over to her. “What? What’s wrong?”

She sighed, realizing the lack of emergency. Anna had scared a few years off her life by yelling like that. All she was pointing to was a poster.

“You...you died!” she exclaimed.

Elsa stared at the poster. On it was her picture, with a solemn expression and her fist high in the air, blue magic surrounding it, all on a background of red. It read “Elsa! Martyr of the Revolution”.

Memories she couldn’t remember having before all came flooding into her mind at once. She remembered long ago when she first joined the Vox, slowly destroying Columbia from inside, to kill the Snow Queen and free everyone from her clutches. She remembered leading the Vox.

Whiteness framed Elsa's vision again and she staggered from the lightheadedness. Her ears rang, and the sound shot through her skull to give her a crushing headache. Too many memories fought for room in Elsa's head. The pressure inside built up more and more. There was pain. There was nothingness.

She heard Anna call her name, felt her grab onto her to hold her up to keep her from falling. “Elsa, come back to me, please!” Anna exhorted. “We--We need to find Merida! Get our airship, remember?”

There was a warmth on Elsa’s upper lip, so she reached up to rub it off. Blood had spread from her nose onto her hand, and she looked at it for a few moments. She gathered herself as she tried to to shut out the pain and prevent herself from going mad. She tried to remember her purpose, that Anna was the most important thing, and that keeping her safe was the priority.

_Anna._

“Yes… I remember…” she mumbled. She lifted her head and continued to walk, with some assistance from her ever-concerned sister. Anna wouldn’t take her eyes off Elsa for the duration of their walk. She was no doctor, but she was quite certain a bloody nose wasn’t a good thing.

Elsa had to reassure her that she was fine and that the migraine or whatever it was subsided. Anna didn’t look convinced, but pressed on with her, hanging onto the hem of her shirt for fear of being separated, and out of habit.

Up ahead stood crowds of people with fists in the air to mirror Elsa's poster, chanting "Vox!" to the sky. The two sisters looked up and saw a large zeppelin. It was hideous, which was the only way Elsa recognized that it was theirs. Its only improvement was that the picture of the Snow Queen was replaced with a large video of Merida’s face looking upon the city, her voice shouting over the loudspeaker to her allies down below.

“Elsa Vår died for this day!” Merida crowed to the people. It dawned on Elsa that part of what she felt moments ago was pain, nothingness, as though she had died. Or at least, it was what she imaged would be the closest thing to death. This was not only a reality where people deemed her as a revolutionary hero, a leader of the Vox, but in fact this was a reality in which she had  _died_ fighting for them.

“Now is the time to stand true to her cause!” Her words roused up the already cheering crowd. “We’re goin’ to the factory, and we’re not just gonna burn it down!”

More cheering erupted from the revolutionists. Elsa had to give it to her, she was a very motivational speaker. She could have ruled her own country if she wanted to. Maybe, once she rose to power, everyone in the city would have better lives from then on. That was good for them, but they needed to find her. Merida said she was headed to the factory, so that’s where they had to catch up.

Running through the town and masses of rioters, Elsa noticed more and more that people revered her as a hero. Countless posters of her clung to the walls, people cheered her name, even though - or perhaps entirely because - she was supposedly dead in this world. It was, in mildest terms, disorienting.

She might have been a queen in former times, but this was becoming dangerously close to religious zealotry. After all, the people dead in the streets had been killed in her name. And this was nothing she wanted. It was something the Snow Queen would want. With a little hope, once she and Anna were gone, this place would just be a distant memory.

Since all of the buildings that weren’t on fire were still in the same places as before, the two sisters ran into the same elevator that would take them up through the factory to Hans’ office.

From the windows of the elevator car, they could see a better view of the city. It was very much in chaos, but there were people celebrating the uprising. Music could be heard through gunshots.

It was a very conflicting feeling. On one hand, the people were getting the rights they deserved. On the other, they were acting like the people who treated them this way to begin with. Elsa feared it would just be another vicious cycle, only the people on the opposite side of the spectrum would be wrongfully mistreated and abused for their differences.

Anna was quiet for a moment, Elsa suspecting she was a bit terrified of the rioting, until she spoke up.

“In this world… you’re a hero.” she bit her lip. "Can I have an autograph?"

Elsa's brow creased. "For one, you haven't got anything for me to sign. And two, I'm not a hero."

Anna's face brightened. "I've got a solution to number one!" she announced, gesturing at the top of her corset.

Elsa's face flushed, and she shook her head emphatically. "No." She should have probably mentioned the lack of a writing utensil for the sake of sparing herself that moment.

“You’re the hero Columbia deserves, but not the one it needs right now.”

“Anna, please be quiet.”

The phone within the elevator car rang. She was willing to bet it was Hans calling her to beg her to protect him from Merida’s wrath. If only he had been nicer and didn’t try to kill her before.

She picked up the phone, once again refusing to be the first to speak. There was no one there, strangely. “Hello?” Nothing. “Hans?”

Nothing.

“I saw ya die with my own eyes, Elsa.” It was Merida.

Elsa remained silent out of habit to protect herself. She gathered her courage to speak to the girl, and remind her of their deal. “I brought you the guns you wanted. Now you need to return my airship. That was our agreement.”

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. My Elsa died for the Vox Populi.” The younger woman hissed over the phone, sounding angry and hurt. “You’re either someone prancin' around using her name, or you’re a ghost.” It was a shame Elsa couldn’t count on her to be superstitious so as to claim to be her own ghost.

“My Elsa was a hero, a legend. She was a story to tell yer children. But you? You just complicate the narrative.”

The phone’s line was cut.

* * *

Of course Hans had to build his office at the topmost building of his whole dominion. It suited him since he thought he was the most important person in history (even when there were so many higher places in the world). Elsa wouldn’t doubt it if he even thought he was more important than the queen he so eagerly worked with. Circumstance would have two mad power-hungry individuals destroy each other in the end.

When the elevator stopped at the top, the entire office had expectantly been looted. The giant clock tower located near the center of the building had blood stains splashed around it, probably from brawls between the Vox and the queen’s faithful soldiers. Hans and everyone else working under the queen may have been despicable, but they did not deserve an ending as terrible as the one they were dealt.

“Elsa, look!” Anna shouted next to her, pointing at the clock tower. The two girls ran up to it, seeing what was behind the glass. It was Merida and Hans, and she was holding a gun to his head. His hands were raised and tears were rolling down his face, which was contorted into ugly sobbing. Merida looked like she was near tears too, her hand shaking as she held the gun.

While she was shocked to see the young woman brought to this, Elsa hadn’t noticed that Anna ran away from her side.

“Anna!” she called, looking frantically for her.

“Over here!”

The blonde ran around to another side of the clock tower where she found her red-headed companion pitifully attempting to jump up to climb into a vent that was far too tall for her to reach.

Part of Elsa wondered how long it would take for the girl to notice that jumping wasn’t going to get her any closer to the vent, but the merciful part of her walked over to give her a boost up. She didn’t even question what Anna’s plan was, but she would go along with it.

The younger woman clumsily pulled herself inside. “Go distract Merida for me!” She ordered.

And just how was she supposed to do that? Crazed women weren’t exactly easy to fool.

Despite her doubts, she ran around to the back of the clock where she last saw Merida, and knocked on the window. She was still there, but now boldly holding the gun to Hans’ temple.

“How far are you going to take this, Merida?” Elsa yelled. “It isn’t meant to happen this way!”

“Not if I have any say in it!” She yelled, keeping her eyes on Elsa, but keeping the gun on Hans. “This is what needs to be done! The only way--”

Anna’s hand shot out from the dark behind Merida, who gasped loudly.

“Whoa! Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Anna said, putting her hands up. Elsa nearly had a heart attack from that foolish act. She may not have known what Anna was going to do, but she could have gotten herself shot in an instant pulling a careless stunt like that.

“Who are you?” Merida demanded, the gun never leaving its prisoner’s face.

“I’m… Anna.” she waved a little, for whatever good it’d do. Unknown to her, her sister was screaming at her in her own head. “Listen, Merida… you… you don’t want to kill Hans.”

“Oh I don’t, eh?” She pressed the barrel harder into his flesh. He winced and trembled, and snot was streaming down his lips. It was most unbecoming.

“Yeah! I mean, look at him!” the slightly taller girl waved her arms at him. “He’s so pathetic right now. You’ve literally brought him to his knees. You’ve won! Don’t you think it’d be, I dunno, pretty satisfying for him to just live with the shame of being such a nincompoop?”

Merida laughed and took her gun away from Hans’ head, continuing to send mocking glares at him. “Yeah, yer right, there is a lot of amusement in that.”

What was even happening right now? Did Anna just talk Merida out of killing someone? Was it on purpose or a fluke? Both of them were laughing it up, making friends with each other, and Hans was - Hans was grabbing the gun from Merida’s hands, his previously-sobbing face a mask of control.

He showed no reaction as he, very calmly, shot Merida twice in the head.

Blood splattered across the window, across Anna, and the three stood in shocked silence as Merida’s body slumped to the floor.

“You...you killed her,” Anna said, haltingly.

Hans shrugged. “She was a rabid bitch that needed to be put down,” he said, looking at the gun in his hand. He motioned to the window with it, seeming not to recognize Elsa. “Same goes for the rest of the Vox. Uncultured, filthy swine - only good for cheap labor or the chopping block.”

“How  _could you_ -”

“Oh, give it a  _rest_ ! Your... _companion_ ...is no saint, either. How many did she murder before the Peacemakers finally put her down?

“Elsa is no murderer!”

Hans shook his head, an easy smile on his lips. “Anna, Anna. Your friend over there has likely murdered more men and women than I. She barely even has to think about it, does she, with those vigors of hers.”

The pistol rose, pointing through the glass at Elsa.

“And while the Snow Queen wants you alive - well, DeWitt’s died once already. Another one won’t hurt.”

Elsa frowned -  _DeWitt?_ \- while Anna lunged forward - there was a  _crack_ as the pistol fired - and Elsa opened her eyes, slowly, as Hans slumped down. Anna held the gun limply in one hand as Hans smiled, teeth bloody.

“You see?” he said. “You’re both killers.” He coughed. “Just like me.”

Anna dropped the gun.

“Anna?” Elsa called. She knocked on the glass. Her sister had been forced to bloody her hands. Elsa felt like bashing her head against the window that separated her from her only family.  _Gods_ , she’d failed at the one protection she thought she could give her sister. She really could do nothing right.

Hardly reacting, Anna opened the window. Elsa clambered through as soon as she could, reaching for her sister.

“N-no!” Anna said, her voice hitching. “Just...just don’t touch me. Not right now.”

Elsa withdrew, her heart shattering, as they made their way to the zeppelin in silence.

* * *

N48, E002

The coordinates were set, and the next stop was Paris. It was a relief, but Elsa was still keeping a sharp eye on the sky. That was, until Anna appeared from the back room, wearing new clothes. She stared at her a moment, trying to see if Anna wished to talk about what she’d done. Anna’s head was low, her eyes stayed away from Elsa’s gaze, but she could tell that while she was changing, she had been crying.

“I wanted to get the blood off…” she said softly, barely louder than a whisper.

Instead of her conservative attire, she was now wearing a white corset and a blue bolero coat.

Her clothes were obviously not the only thing about Anna that had changed. Hans may have deserved a death worse than the one he got, but Anna should not have been the one to give it to him. Elsa could tell how much it was horrifying her that she had been driven to kill. She, herself, remembered being forced to kill after the raffle. It didn’t matter whether she had intended for it to happen or not, it didn’t even matter if it was an act of survival, she would never be able to live with herself because of it. It appeared as though they did have something in common.

But Elsa did not want to share these somber feelings with Anna. She wanted to keep her sister from them, even if she couldn’t keep everything else from happening to her. If Elsa let her sister fall into the same pit of despair she was in, she wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to get out. She wanted to make her happy.

Anna  _deserved_ to be happy.

“Your clothes look nice,” Elsa finally said after a moment. “Very fashionable.”

Anna grunted, not really in the mood for compliments.

They remained in silence, looking out the front of the zeppelin. Elsa would talk to her about it if she wanted to. Pressing her would only drive her to mourn someone who didn’t deserve it. After a few moments, she noticed Anna beginning to relax back into her normal state. Naturally, her distress was still visible in her eyes, but less so. She was working things out in her head. When she finally looked directly at Elsa, the older woman smiled at her, assuring her that everything would be okay, and that she would be able to move on from all of this.

If only she could convince herself to do the same.

It was when Anna took a deep breath and sighed, easing into a comfortable spot at the helm, when Elsa finally noticed some things about Anna’s new clothes. She wasn’t wrong, they were very pretty and fashionable, but the coat, along with her bird brooch, made a perfect square frame of her chest that attracted Elsa’s eyes to the soft dip in the center.

Anna noticed her looking and smiled at her shyly, “What?”

She looked away a moment, to collect her mind, and to keep Anna from noticing her blush, even though she was certain she already saw it. She looked back up to Anna. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she said, fidgeting with her hands. She patted the dress down.

She looked very grown up. Elsa pushed aside her improper thoughts for the moment, even though she was pretty sure Anna wanted her to think them.

Though, she reflected, Anna didn’t know that she was flirting with her sister.

She found that she couldn’t push aside her obvious attraction to Anna. She supposed thirteen years of segregation would do that to a person. But then again, feeling all sorts of love for the girl didn’t seem that wrong to her. Despite Elsa’s own feelings, she felt it best to tell her the truth. Anna’s reaction to the news of their relation would determine everything.

“Now that…” She started, catching them both silently staring at each other. “Now that we’ve got a moment, there’s something I--”

A black shadow whisked by the front of the zeppelin, shaking it with the turbulence. Elsa’s immediate thought was that it was Songbird after them. The shadow emerged from the clouds, circling them, proving that Elsa was unfortunately correct in her speculation. She grabbed the controls, hoping that moving any of the levers would make it go faster to outrace the bird. An egg-shaped vessel filled with air would not have a chance of going any quicker than it was already flying. Anna rushed over to help her.

“Where’s the high speed button?” Anna yelled, searching for the imaginary button among all the dials of the control panel. “There’s always one somewhere!”

“This isn’t exactly that kind of--”

The horrific screech of Songbird forced Elsa’s attention to the window, just in time to see it crash into the ship head on. Its claws broke through the window and clung to the side so it could drag them down. Elsa managed to hang onto one of the levers, but Anna was left being tossed around the cockpit. They tried reaching for each other, until the entire ship slammed into the ground - Elsa’s head slammed into the wall - and everything went black.


	11. The Lion And The Thorn

Elsa awoke to more screeching. It took her a moment to realize that this wasn’t the sound of Songbird - rather, it was the airship being ripped apart by its giant claws. The top of the ship had been pried open, allowing rain to pour inside, and before she could act - before she could _think_ \- Songbird reached for her with one of it’s humanlike hands and tossed her across the zeppelin.

She was too confused to scream as her body flew through the air. The landing was hard and she skidded across the expanse of ground, nearly toppling over the edge of what appeared to be a drawbridge. The clouds were too thick to see the ocean under Columbia, and the rain made it seem as though she would have simply fallen into an abyss if Songbird had thrown her just a little bit harder.

Attempting to pick herself up was made a useless effort when the beast came back to finish the job. Its glowing red eyes stared the woman down, challenging her to take Anna away from it again. Elsa was about to attempt retaliation by blasting ice in its face, until Anna ran into view. The young woman threw herself in front of her. Gasping at the close call, Elsa instinctively retreated her hand to the pit of her arm to prevent it from making another mistake. The ground beneath her frosted over.

“Stop it! Please! Don’t hurt her!” Anna pleaded to the monster, only to be gently shoved aside.

The bird reeled back its claws, and--

“I’m sorry!”

It stopped just before stabbing Elsa through. It paused, and slowly cocked it’s head to the side to look at Anna, who had come running back in front of Elsa. “I’m sorry...” She repeated. The beast reared its head back, it’s eyes still red with fury. Elsa silently swore that if it moved to attack Anna--

“I never should have left.”

Elsa stared at her. What was she doing? She didn’t believe -  _couldn’t_ believe - that Anna was actually apologizing for leaving. She knew her sister had wanted out.

“...Take… Take me back…”

_No!_

Avoiding Elsa’s horrified stare, Anna touched the hand of the monster, whose eyes turned green. She hugged its giant index finger (Elsa noted, somewhere in her mind, that the creature’s finger was bigger than Anna’s entire body), and spoke softly. “Take me home… please...” Songbird nodded and obediently picked her up.

“Anna, no!” Elsa leapt up, grabbing for her sister’s hand.

The younger girl reached back to her sister, helplessly, knowing that she wasn’t going to be able to prevent the Songbird from taking her away. The last thing Elsa saw of Anna, before the beast disappeared with her, was her sad smile.

She screamed Anna’s name as the bird disappeared into the storm clouds. In a fit of rage, knowing that her sister had sacrificed her own freedom in exchange for Elsa’s safety, her magic ran unchecked; the ground around Elsa’s feet started to freeze over. Part of her damned Anna for being so selfless. That was not a sacrifice Anna should have made.

Not for her.  _She_ did not deserve it.  _She_ was the big sister,  _she_ should've been the one Songbird took away.

Naturally that wasn't the case. Elsa’s failings would always harm those she loved, leaving herself undamaged. Songbird had wanted  _her_ dead, not Anna. If she’d let Songbird kill her, Anna might have gotten away.

Her mind flashed to the poster Anna had pointed out. The only way Elsa could be the hero, was as the martyr.

But Anna was gone. Elsa was alive. She’d have to hope that there was still a chance.

Her hands glowed bright blue, and she threw herself off the end of the drawbridge, forming her own bridge of snow in the direction Songbird flew. With each step Elsa took, the snow turned to solid ice, her desperation forming sharp edges that shattered in the wind, slicing her face and hands.

_Penance_ , she thought, and made no move to shield herself from the wind.

She had no idea how far the beast was going to take her now that Monument Island was a smoking wreck, but she would run for months to find Anna before she’d allow herself to collapse from exhaustion. The Songbird could come after her if it wanted to. It could kill her if it wanted to. But Elsa was never going to let it take Anna.

_Not_ again.

The clouds grew thicker and thicker the more Elsa ran. Soon enough she’d lost all sight of where she was going, and the wind grew stronger, threatening to blow her down to the depths - she had no idea what was below her, if there were still buildings or if she’d left Columbia entirely - but she pressed on making her ice bridge.

Snow began to fall. Having dropped temperatures and caused many a flurry herself, Elsa didn’t question it. She was infuriated, and so any winter storm she caused would reflect that.

She ceased making the bridge when she finally made it to a building, one already covered with several feet of snow. Looking up, she saw a giant looming ice statue of the Snow Queen’s emotionless face protruding from the side of the building. It was her palace, more or less, which explained why it was floating far away from the rest of the city.

There was a cry from up the stairs to the entrance of the palace.

“Get your hands off me!”

It was Anna. Never stopping to observe her surroundings, Elsa continued to run toward the sound of her voice. She opened the doors, hoping to see her sister. While she did see her, it wasn’t… her.

It was a statue, posing as the room’s centerpiece, and it was of Anna, surrounded by dozens of lit candles, and brandishing a sword. Heavenly light shining through the top of the statue illuminated the words “Our Princess Anna Godspeed Thy Judgement”.

Elsa had never thought of Anna wielding a sword, standing in such a dictatorial way. It frightened her, seeing her like that, even if she knew that it wasn’t really Anna. Not  _her_ Anna - simply the Snow Queen’s image of Anna, a reflection of the cruel successor she’d wanted to create.

And when Elsa thought it couldn't get anymore unnerving, she heard Anna’s voice over the speakers in the room.

“Some men dream of money. Some men dream of love. My sister dreamt an eternal storm. We were given Eden, and we turned it into Sodom. Why do we deserve salvation? The Lord gave Noah a fish in the form of a flood. But He was not so easy on me…”

The way Anna spoke sounded… exactly like the Snow Queen. Or at least the speaker was a woman who sounded very similar to Anna. It couldn’t have been her Anna saying that. Not while she had no reason to recite such things, let alone the time needed to record and play the messages.

There was a scream from the hall behind the statue, and it shook Elsa from her thoughts. What was the Snow Queen doing to her?

Following the sounds of Anna’s cries, she burst through another set of doors, which took her to an area that just looked like a neglected mental asylum. If Elsa had bothered to look, she would have noticed the random, masked patients wandering aimlessly through the halls, not once interacting with each other, or even noticing the distressed woman passing through.

Elsa approached a heavily reinforced door marked as “Restricted”. If she had any guess to Anna’s whereabouts, she figured her sister would be behind that door. There was an intercom button she would have normally used, but her patience was already thin. Anna could not wait for Elsa to ask permission from the warden to see her sister. So she took a step back and froze the entire door and attached fence.

“Take me back to my tower!”

“It’s too late for that now, child.” The new voice belonged to a weaselly-sounding man. “Your sister gave you a lovely home. And you chose to destroy it.”

“She’s not my sister!”

The words hurt Elsa, even if she knew that they weren’t for  _her_ . She gritted her teeth, concentrating on her magic, making the room colder, making the door and fence so brittle that both eventually shattered and collapsed to the floor. She stumbled over them and continued to run through the asylum, all the while hearing Anna, but no matter how fast Elsa ran, no matter which disarranged room she looked into, her sister did not sound any closer.

Elsa heard the man’s voice again. “I’m Dr. Weselton, Anna. I’ll be taking care of you.”

“Get away from me...” Anna sounded weak.

“Defiance? Even after all this time? Elsa just left you here. You need to give up on her, love.”

“She. Will. Come.”

There was her Anna. Never once losing hope in her. Elsa was coming for her. She would  _always_ come for her. And it gave her strength knowing that Anna could know that, even after so short a time together.

Elsa rounded a corner, and stopped short when she saw Kristoff and Krista, yet again. They were behind… or inside of a tear. But what could a tear be doing here?

She shook her head. “What?”

“Why do you ask ‘what’--” Kristoff began.

“When the better question is ‘when’?” Krista finished.

“Lives. Lived. Will live.”

“Dies. Died. Will die.”

The light of the hall flickered, and the duo disappeared before Elsa’s eyes. She was no longer phased by them. There was probably nothing that could even surprise her anymore.

She looked ahead, and there before her eyes, stood Anna, silhouetted from the light outside the balcony she was standing on. She'd know that shape anywhere. She didn’t look harmed at all, and was actually standing on her own. Elsa could’ve cried, and ran right up to where she stood. She would have pulled her into a big embrace, not even caring about her magic. That was, until Anna spoke in a very worn, tired voice.

“It took all that I had left in me just to bring you here, Elsa...”

“Anna? What happened? I heard you screaming! Are you alright?”

“Take my hand…”

She reached up without thinking, but the hand that reached back did not belong to Anna. It was a blue-tinted, cold hand with patches of snowflakes branded into her skin, and attached to the hand was a weary, tired-eyed Anna with stark-white hair, wearing impressive icy armor from the neck down.

Elsa felt like she was looking her worst nightmare right in the face. And in a way she was. When Anna pulled Elsa up onto the balcony with her, she looked sickly, half frozen, but at the same time there was a look about her that told Elsa how spent she was, and how numb she was to her current condition.

Anna had given up.

And behind her, beyond the ledge on which they stood, was Arendelle. In the sky above were airships from Columbia raining down... _hailstones_ \- Elsa’s magic touched them briefly, and recoiled from the greasy  _wrongness_ of them - that blanketed the kingdom in creeping ice, ice that slithered and crawled up buildings.

Up  _people_ .

A little boy with a green cap ran away from a spreading patch of ice, only to step in another one he hadn’t noticed - he tugged his leg, trying to get free, but the ice had encased his foot, and wouldn’t let go - he pulled as hard as he could, but the ice was relentless, crawling up his leg and chest and finally encasing his face, covering his skin in an eternal scream -

How could this be happening? What had happened to Anna to make her this way? She’d never had ice in her heart… She would never have allowed this to happen.

Anna gestured to the frozen kingdom behind her, never taking her frost-blue eyes off Elsa. “The Snow Queen’s magic, her...creations...everything lasts past death. I was...I  _am_ her undying legacy.”

She snorted, and turned away from Elsa. “I waited for you… forever, it seemed. I waited as long as I could… until it was time to give in. I realized that you were never going to save me.” She sighed. “It wasn’t the torture that broke me. It wasn’t the Snow Queen’s indoctrination. It was time. Time rots everything. Even hope.”

Did she somehow miss her chance? How long was she even gone for? It couldn't have been any more than a few hours since her sister had been taken away. Anna could not have given up on her. She’d  _heard_ her. She knew Elsa wouldn’t leave her.

Tears welled up in Elsa’s eyes as she continued to stare in disbelief at her sister, who was very much dying before her. Certainly Anna had claimed immortality - but Elsa was unsure if the broken woman before her could truly be termed living.

Anna may as well have been hitting her in the face, realizing that she did this to her.  _Would_ do this to her even when she never meant to.

Her heart clenched as she almost heard Kristoff and Krista’s echo.  _Hurts. Hurt. Will hurt._

“I was coming…” she whimpered, her shoulders began to shake. It was her fault she was like this. It had always been her fault.

“Songbird.” Anna continued. “It always stops you.”

“No… I would find a way…” She would have fought Songbird. The creature might have been incredibly powerful, but then again - so was she. She’d created the ice bridge, she’d made it to the Snow Queen’s palace. Songbird never returned to kill her.

Anna shook her head. “It’s too late for me. I brought you here for your sake. Yours and hers.” So this Anna was just from a different tear. A tear from the future where Elsa had never made it to her sister. Anna had brought her here to save them both? “Here.” She handed Elsa a piece of paper.

On it was some writing that she couldn’t make out. “What is this?” Elsa asked.

“Advice.”

“Advice on what?”

“How not to become me.”

With a wave of her warms and a flash of light, Elsa was no longer looking at a dying Anna.

She looked around where she was. She was inside the Snow Queen’s palace. “I’m back… Before she… There’s still time.”

 


	12. The Siphon

“Anna!”

Elsa burst through the doors of the surgery wing of the Snow Queen’s castle. Anna’s entire body was strapped to an operating table, surrounded by giant burning lights and machines. The unsympathetic doctor stood back, watching the defenseless young girl screaming, crying, and begging for them to stop as she writhed violently from the torturous device attached to her back.

Above them and across the room was an enclosed balcony overlooking the surgery, and standing in the middle was the Snow Queen herself, scrutinizing the practice below.

“What are you doing?” Elsa demanded.

The Snow Queen’s lip curled. “Protecting Anna, like you _should_ have done.”

Elsa gestured to her weeping sister. “You call this _protecting_ her?”

The Snow Queen shook her head. “A last resort. I kept her safe in that tower for thirteen years, until _you_ put her in harm’s way. _You_ destroyed her home. _You_ took her who-knows-where in this city, endangering her, placing her in the midst of _combat_ \--”

“Combat with your soldiers!”

The other woman shrugged. “Details. I tried to give Anna the childhood she deserved, until you tore her away from her life and forced my hand.” She gestured at the scene below. “This is _your_ doing, Elsa. Every time you try and help her, you make things worse.” She shrugged. “If you weren’t so selfish, you’d see that she’d be better off without you.”

“I am...far from perfect,” Elsa admitted. “But I’m a hundred - a _thousand_ times better for Anna’s well being than you are.”

The Snow Queen frowned. “So be it,” she said, and turned.

“Let her go!” Elsa demanded, freezing the thick glass dividing her from Anna, who was continuing to weep uncontrollably. But the glass was too thick to break through, and the Snow Queen ignored her cry, closing the door to the balcony behind her.

Elsa screamed angrily, stomping on some of the cords that were spread throughout the room. Ice formed from her shoe, and grew around the giant cables, continuing to follow their trail out the other doors.

Freezing the cords caused the power to short out.

“She shut down the siphons!” shouted the doctor - judging from his voice, Elsa figured he was Weselton. “The specimen is--No!”

A tear opened, changing the walls surrounding the entire operating theater into a grim, stormy countryside. Wind was blowing violently, and it was not caused by Elsa’s magic, but a twister in the distance, speeding right towards them.

“Melt the ice! Turn it back on! Please!” he begged, clinging to the operation table as the wind picked him up. Elsa had nothing to hold on to to keep her from being swept away from the tornado. She turned away from the scene and sat against the glass, keeping her arms over her head as she was buffeted by bits of wood and debris. She could only pray that the glass was strong enough to hold.

The scream of Weselton could be heard through the roaring of the wind as he was sucked into the twister. Elsa braced herself. And then there was silence.

The tear to the storm had disappeared, and Elsa was back in the surgery wing. She looked back and saw that the siphon machines and lights had been taken by the tornado. Half of the theater was destroyed, with planks of wood thrown across the floor. Anna thankfully had not shared Weselton’s fate. She was still strapped to the table, which was strongly bolted to the floor.

Elsa ran around the broken glass wall to Anna, who was panting from exhaustion. Tears had dried to her cheeks. She was bruised all over, scrapes and cuts fresh from the twister’s debris. Elsa felt she could’ve died from heartbreak right there.

She freed her sister from the restraints, practically ripping apart the leather straps that were binding her ankles, legs, waist, and wrists. Then she took her hand and raised her head, and with a whimper, Anna shakily sat up on her own.

“Elsa…”

“You’re okay, Anna,” Elsa choked. “I’ve got you…”

Anna threw her legs over the side of the table, revealing the device attached to her spine. It wasn’t a device that was simply placed on her back. It was a syringe as thick as her forearm, with a needle injected into her spine. Her poor, brave little sister... How could the Snow Queen torture her like this? That woman was a demon, and she needed to be sent back to hell where she belonged.

She firmly grabbed the back of the syringe with her hand, Anna’s shoulder was gripped with the other hand.

“I’m going to pull it out now,” she warned.

“Please make it fast…” Anna mumbled weakly.

The needle was yanked from her back with a disgusting wet sound. Anna cried out, half laughing as a response to the new pain. It left her with a perfectly circular purple and red bruise directly between her shoulder blades. Her breathing was heavy at first, but slowed down when she realized Elsa was still there.

The older woman clung to the younger one tight enough for both of them. Anna barely had the strength to lift her arms around Elsa’s waist to hug her properly. Elsa could feel her shaking in her embrace, but her eyes were too dried out to let tears fall.

They stayed like that for minutes, though they knew time was running out. She just had to let her sister feel safe for once, even if it was only for a short time. They were together again, and nothing would tear them apart.

_How many times have you made that promise in the last few days?_

Elsa pushed the thought away. Anna needed her, she had no time for Elsa’s insecurities.

Anna finally had the energy to cry into Elsa, and cling to her desperately, asking her what took her so long. Elsa couldn't answer her right away. It took everything within her to keep from crying herself. She had to be strong for her sister's sake. She continued to let her cry.

Once Anna had calmed down enough to stop crying, Elsa handed to her the piece of paper with the notes written on it from future Anna.

“Someone asked me to give you this.”

“What is it?” Anna asked through a dry swallow, and attempted to read it as Elsa tied up her bodice, not too tight, but tight enough so it wouldn’t fall when she began to walk. She explained where she was, how she met the other Anna, and what she told her.

“You mean she… I… I’m the one who… takes her place?” The young woman looked like she was about to panic, knowing that Elsa met her future self, and it was somebody who’d willingly followed the Snow Queen and did her dirty work for her.

“You can’t become that Anna if you’re away from the Snow Queen and living in Paris.” Elsa corrected.

“Elsa, we can’t leave.” Anna said solemnly, shaking her head. “She’ll chase after us, you know she will. And I won’t allow her to turn me into a… monster.” She growled the last word. She was hurt, and had rage burning inside her. But she sounded like she was going to take actions that Elsa knew her Anna would never want to take.

“And what are you going to do? Kill her?”

“She won’t get away with this…”

“Enough, Anna. You can’t kill her.” Elsa understood how she felt. So badly, she wanted the Snow Queen dead. She ruined their lives, and she deserved to die. But she was not going to let Anna taint herself with someone else’s blood on her hands.

“And why not?” her sister asked, her body slumped in defeat.

“Because I’m going to do it for you.”

* * *

 

Much to Elsa's regret, Anna had been tortured by the queen for a while, but she couldn't recall exactly how long. Just the same, Anna had refused to give up on Elsa, and hung on to the belief that she would come back for her. She did learn a few things while she was strapped to her chair. She’d learned the location of the Snow Queen, and learned that the gondola outside would take them directly to The Hand of the Queen, which was a zeppelin she used as a personal warship. They would reach her at the top of it.

Or, Elsa considered, if she were wiser, she'd just take Anna to Paris, kicking and screaming if she had to.

The two kept silent after that. Elsa didn't want Anna to overexert herself by talking too much, so she said little that needed a response. Despite Anna's desire to move around, her body wouldn't let her. Several times she nearly collapsed from exhaustion and fatigue. Elsa crouched in front of her with her back to her.

Anna was confused about Elsa's gesture, but Elsa insisted that she was going to try to carry her to the trolley.

Carrying her sister all the way up to the roof was a reminder of how much of a weakling she was. She’d barely scraped by throughout this entire journey by using her magic, being as frail as a kitten physically, and she was about to stupidly take on the Snow Queen - who had far more control over her powers - when she couldn't even piggyback Anna without her knees wobbling from the extra weight. She was pathetic. Any fight she had so far had been won by using her magic, without any skill or finesse, to overpower people far better at combat than she. What was she going to do to the queen?

Give her an easy target, no doubt. She also wouldn't put it past her to chase after them, even if they simply left.

There was really only one option.

Opening the door to the roof, Elsa nearly slipped on ice that had frozen over the entire expanse. She set Anna down, offering her her arm for support, which her sister took. They carefully walked to the gondola that would take them to the Zeppelin. The ice was sharp and uneven, and man-sized hurdles were scattered all over the place and at the base of various angel statues. When Elsa got a closer look, those hurdles were actual men, Vox Populi judging from the red clothes they wore, frozen to the roof. This was obviously the work of the Snow Queen.

When they reached the gondola, Elsa pulled the lever to get it to head towards its predetermined destination. Anna leaned against Elsa's shoulder, pulling her close to her body by her waist.

"Elsa?" she whispered, just loud enough to talk over the wind. "Do you think it's possible... that the two of us could live happily ever after together?"

She had to think about what Anna meant by that. She had a feeling she already knew, by the way Anna was looking up into her eyes. "Of course, Anna," she said, turning so they were facing each other.

In their time together Elsa had come to know Anna through a series of closed doors, barriers built out of fear and anger that held them apart. That separation had come to define them both, but in this moment those doors were crumbling away to leave Anna bare before her. Clear eyes shone with an undeniable love no longer held back, an affection that she had kept guarded in secret for all this time. But the accidental lies she had built all of this upon burned with a guilty weight into her heavy heart.

She knew Anna only felt this way because Elsa hadn't been completely honest with her, even if it wasn't deliberate.

"Anna..." she breathed softly, trying to contain herself. She took her hands. "Before anything else happens, I need to tell you that I'm..."

And Anna was kissing her.

 


	13. Stop Hitting Yourself

“Is that my tower?”

Elsa examined the statue. It seemed to be a cross-section of Monument Island, showcasing the machine she’d seen at its base.

“Yes,” she said.

“The Siphon?” Anna read, confused. “My tower was a Siphon?”

The memory came back to Elsa - it felt like an age ago, before she’d gotten Anna back. She remembered seeing the machine, the warning signs.

The blood.

“You were singing,” Elsa said. “And the machine came to life in response.”

“It was _draining me_ ,” Anna said, horrified. “When I was little - before I was in the tower - I wasn’t just able to open tears. I could actually _make_ them.”

“Anna?” Elsa asked. Anna wasn’t looking at her. She was staring into the distance, as though she weren’t aware of anything around her.

Twin drips of blood flowed from Anna's nose.

Once Elsa noticed the blood, she immediately went to her sister’s side. She pulled one of her sleeves down and used the end to dab Anna’s lip clean, using her other hand to caress her sister's back. Elsa had thought the high altitude was behind her nosebleeds, but then why would Anna, who had grown up at this elevation, be getting them all of a sudden?

She wondered if she should ask Anna to wait out on the gondola for her until she returned.

It was starting to occur to her the situation she was about to put herself in. She wanted to be confident for Anna’s sake, but the chances of her coming out of this encounter alive were dwindling, and she still hadn’t told her sister the truth about the two of them. She might not get another opportunity.

“Anna. There’s something important you need to know.”

“If you're trying to convince me to stay behind while you confront the Snow Queen, then...uh...you can't.”

“No, Anna, that’s not what I--”

Her sister pushed the doors open and walked inside, unprepared for the lack of traction. She slipped and fell back, but was lucky enough to be caught by Elsa.

The room was completely covered in snow all the way up to the ceiling. The floors were made of slick, dark blue ice that was so smooth, the girls could see own reflections clearly. Pillars shaped like large stacked snowflakes jutted from the floor. Snow was gently falling from the ceiling in fluffy clumps, as though they were outside.

Natural light came from above them, through an ice window in the center of the ceiling that colored the room in different shades of blue and purple. It shone down on a throne at the top of a staircase, framed by a giant hollowed orb.

Sitting on her throne was the Snow Queen, clad in a sharp, steel blue dress, with a tall collar, long see-through cape, and puffed out sleeves that ended at her wrists. Her hair was jet black, styled upward in the back, and unkempt bangs falling in front of her eyes.

“Good evening, Anna…” the Snow Queen said, eyes locked on Anna. To Elsa, the way this awful woman addressed her sister was beyond disgusting and her tone lingered in Elsa’s ears, making her shudder. “My dear sister… How I’ve missed you.”

Anna’s hand let go of Elsa’s, she may as well have thrown Elsa’s heart to the ground. The younger woman took a step forward, her eyes locked on the black-haired woman before her.

“S...Sister?” Anna stepped closer and closer until she was walking up the stairs, not even noticing that a few moments ago she’d barely been able to keep herself from falling.

“Of course,” the queen laughed, stood up, and took Anna’s hand. Elsa wanted to scream at her to let her go, but no words came out. “Why else would I go to such lengths to keep you safe?”

“Safe from what?” Anna gestured to the door. “What danger out there was worth thirteen years of isolation? Being treated like an experiment, being _watched_ without knowing?”

“It kept you from her, did it not? The False Queen.”

“Elsa isn’t…”

“I’ve seen what she’s done at the cost of getting you back, my love. I’ve seen the danger she put you in just to keep you. What lengths do you think she’ll go? Could you live with yourself knowing that she destroyed a nation for your sake?”

“I… she…”

“Look at her, sister. Does she not seem familiar to you?”

“Stop it!” Elsa yelled. “We’ve had enough. Anna, let’s go, we’re leaving. We’re forgetting everything about this place.”

“Where do you think you’d be taking her, Elsa?”

“I’m taking her far away from you, where we’ll be together. I’m not going to let you keep us from being happy.”

"Oh, Elsa. You should've known, there are no happy endings...not for people like us. Happy endings are for fairy tales. You cannot protect your sister from a world that would harm her, _use_ her; you cannot even protect her from yourself!"

Before Elsa could move, a burst of magic hit her in the face, knocking her to the frozen floor.

Anna tackled the queen to the ground, pinning her arms to the floor, figuring that the older woman couldn’t put up much of a fight on her own. She smiled up at her.

“Oh, Anna,” she shook her head. She took a deep breath and blew. Snow was exhaled from her mouth into Anna’s face, causing her to stagger back. The queen created a tall icicle fence around the young girl. She picked herself up from the ground, and smoothed out her dress. “Be a good girl for your sister and stay put. I don’t want you throwing yourself in front of danger like a fool. I know you're very good at that.”

Elsa shook her head, trying to shake off the blow. When she looked up, the Snow Queen swirled her arms around, snow gathered around her and took on a large slender shape. Elsa braced herself, expecting the queen to hurl that snow at her, but the snow stopped moving after a moment.

What looked like a simple hill of snow suddenly turned an ugly head with glowing blue eyes toward Elsa. The snow uncoiled itself from the queen and hissed. The Queen had created a giant snow serpent.

It slithered toward Elsa with a gaping mouth, baring icicle fangs ready to sink into her. She evaded its first strike, but it was far too fast to outrun.

When it struck a second time, she managed to duck behind one of the pillars, causing the snake to bite the ice and get its fangs stuck. The rest of it’s body knotted up tight to try and yank itself free, its thrashing shaking the room and causing chunks of the window to break and fall to the floor. Elsa took this opportunity to create an ice blade, decapitating the beast.

The headless body flailed more violently at the loss of its head, hitting Elsa in the gut with it’s tail, and then became a lifeless pile of snow.

Elsa was thrown across the jagged ice floor, her arm was slashed open from the fall, and she landed roughly on her stomach against the side of a wedge.

The Snow Queen spread her arms wide, a large glow formed from her chest and grew larger, though Elsa couldn’t see it as she struggled to get to her feet. The ball of magic was hurled in her direction, and Elsa threw up one hand, blood flying from the gash in her arm. A shield of ice curved around her, but shattered once the queen’s magic struck it.

Countless icicle shards shot down from the ceiling, barely giving Elsa enough time to shield herself again. The ground beneath her swirled around her feet, freezing them in place. Elsa tried willing the ice to release her, but it wouldn’t work.

She looked up through her shield and saw the queen, cruel smirk fixed on her face, had one hand out in front of her. The other was raised in the air, raining shards ice from above that were slowly chipping away Elsa’s cover. Elsa threw her arms up.

A blast of ice shot toward the Snow Queen, the force from it slamming the older woman against the back of her throne behind her. The queen looked up at her wrist, which was frozen to the throne with ice that grew up her arm. She struggled to pull away from it, clawing at the ice that bound her until her fingernails bled.

She raised her free hand at Elsa to attack, only to have it also pinned to the throne.

“Give up,” Elsa said. “Anna was never yours.”

The Snow Queen snarled, tugging against her wrists. “I’ll _never_ give up,” she spat, “Anna is _mine_ , do you hear me?”

Blood dripped from the ice binding the Queen’s wrists.

“She’s _mine_ ,” the Queen continued, “ _mine, mine, mine--_ ”

There was a horrifying tearing sound, and Elsa felt as though the bottom of her stomach had dropped through the floor. The Queen’s wrists had split open, blood pouring through the skin, hints of muscle visible through the liquid. The Snow Queen wrenched, once, twice, and then the muscle was rippling and twisting, pulling away from the bone--

The Queen gave one last tug, and her wrists separated entirely, blood pouring from the twin stumps. Her face was still twisted in a vicious snarl as she stepped towards Elsa.

“You thought you could just waltz in here and _take my sister from me_? You, who gave her up without a second thought? You thought you were _worthy_ of her?”

Her eyes were wide and rolling in their sockets. Frost covered the ends of her arms, freezing the blood solid.

“If I can’t have her,” the Snow Queen hissed, “there’s no way in _hell_ that you can!”

Ice magic shot wildly from the Queen’s arms, uncontrolled and undirected. Several bolts slammed into the Queen herself, but most smashed into pillars, shattering them. One hit the ice window in the ceiling, and Elsa raised a hand to shield herself from the shards.

She registered that the ground was shaking, and the rest of the ceiling was crashing down around her. She tore her gaze away from the manic Queen and rushed to her sister. A quick blast of magic took care of the icicle fence, and the pair ran for the doors.

“No!” the Queen howled. Her arms and legs were frozen into a blue ice now, and she struggled against her limbs, trying to get to Elsa. “ _No, no, no_ \--”

Elsa pulled Anna through the doors, and they watched as the walls collapsed in on themselves, burying the Snow Queen in a mountain of ice shards.

Elsa hunched over, breathing deeply and trying not to vomit. The way the Snow Queen had torn her own hands off...

“What did she mean?” Anna fretted. “That you should seem familiar to me? Do we… did we know each other before?”

Elsa clenched her eyes shut, bracing herself against hard words yet to come. She’d thought, with the Snow Queen vanquished, that the hard part would be over.

“I… I never meant to hide it from you.”

“What’s ‘it’? What do you mean?” Anna half-laughed. “That we’re sisters?”

Elsa brought her fingers up to her mouth, remembering their very passionate kiss. It had happened, yes, but that didn’t mean she should outright lie to Anna about it. She knew she had to come clean, but Anna had somehow guessed it.

“You’re my… yes.”

“I… kinda sorta already figured that out.”

“You did? How?”

“Look, the Snow Queen was always gonna be either your sister or you from an alternate universe. Oh! She also could’ve been me in disguise, that would’ve been cool.”

“The Snow Queen couldn’t have been you in disguise, Anna.”

“She - er, I - uh, we? Anyways, it was totally a possibility! I’m just fooling you into thinking we’re on the same side so I can learn your weaknesses, and then dramatically turn on you when you’re most vulnerable!”

“Except I’ve known who the Snow Queen was for years, and you and I have been traveling together the entire time.”

“Oh. Right. Well, I still think it would’ve been cool. Anyways, if you’re the Snow Queen’s sister, and _I’m_ the Snow Queen’s sister, you must also be _my_ sister. And if the Snow Queen is you from an alternate universe, and she and I are sisters, then you and I are also sisters. Therefore, you and I are definitely sisters.” Anna looked very pleased with herself.

Elsa’s brow furrowed. “I’m confused.”

Anna shrugged, entirely unconcerned. “Maybe someday you’ll get it.”

* * *

When they reached the helm of The Hand of the Queen, they flew it back to Monument Island. The statue had been badly damaged by Songbird, but the Siphon was still intact inside of it, limiting Anna’s powers.

“Anna, is there _any_ reason at all that you can’t just open a tear to Paris, and we can walk through and live happily ever after?”

“It doesn’t really work like that. At least, not while the Siphon is active.”

“This is ridiculous.” Elsa retorted solemnly, staring at the ruined angel before them. It had to be destroyed somehow. If only they had a way to get Songbird to destroy the Siphon for them. The monster was good at destroying things, it could've been useful for once.

“What are you waiting for?” Anna asked, putting her hand on her shoulder. “Destroy the Siphon.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, I mean, you could bring the whole thing down with your magic!”

“Anna, I…”

“It would be so easy. If it’s gone, Elsa, then I can make tears to wherever we want. We’d have our happily ever after.”

Elsa stared down at the ocean. She took a deep breath and flexed her hands toward the water. With a thrust of her hands, she pointed them toward the tower, freezing the water below and stabbing the heart of the building with dozens of giant icicles.

There was an explosion of white and purple that shook the entire airship, signaling that Elsa’s ice had struck the giant Siphon. Smoke filled the air, and pieces of debris slammed into the side of the ship, but they did no damage to it outside of chipping the paint. All that Songbird had left of the angel fell to the sea until the only remaining thing was the platform and some rubble.

Elsa marveled at her work, the light from the glow making her ice a radiant indigo. She looked at Anna, who was quite literally glowing with happiness. While it was true that her magic could be destructive, at the same time her magic was something Anna loved, and - for once - it had managed to do something for her sister to make her happy.

A screech echoed through the air.

The bird shot from the clouds, and Elsa immediately stepped in front of Anna with her hand outstretched and ready to strike the flying beast. But it did no good. Songbird’s massive body smashed into The Hand of the Queen.


	14. Strangled In The Crib

The Hand of the Queen exploded upon impact.

Elsa held on to Anna as they fell. Her mind raced as she tried to think of what to do; her arm extended, with hardly a moment to aim, and she froze a few platforms off the falling wreckage, changing them into the shape of an icy slope, padded with snow to soften their fall. They slid to a stop near the edge of the slope. Anna was still glowing, still in a trance from before.

Another screech came from above. Elsa glared at the sky. That monster would not take Anna again. She’d defeated the Snow Queen, hadn’t she?

Nothing could stop her.

As soon as it emerged from the purple smoke, she pitched an ice spike through one of it’s leathery wings. The beast cried out, as if in pain, and it crashed into the platform before Elsa.

It was time. Elsa still had no idea how to go about saving Aurora, but a good start would be to get her out of that mechanical body. Her promise to Maleficent would be fulfilled. Her promise...

She looked back at Anna, who was gradually coming back to herself, and then slowly approached the unmoving bird. She put out a hand to touch its giant head. The body started twitching violently and rose up on its knees, damaged wings outstretched as far as they could, claws swung back to strike its enemy.

Elsa jerked back, and an ice lance ran through the heart of the beast, staining the snow red as its body met the ground with a gargantuan thud.

Elsa ran over to the bird, desperately trying to cut the leather open with an ice dagger to release the person inside. It was Maleficent all over again, _Anna_ all over again. How many people would she hurt without meaning to?

Anna may have been the most important person in her life, but Aurora was the most important person to Maleficent. She’d wanted to help her if she could, though she never thought she had a chance of doing that until a few moments ago. Once again, she’d failed to do the right thing. Once again, her magic had become something destructive. How dare she even think for a moment her powers could bring anything other than pain?

The leather stitches holding Songbird together were slashed open, and Elsa peeled the pieces back, revealing a face. Blue eyes were frozen open, snow white hair fell loose from the familiar pair of braids.

The woman within Songbird tried speak, but freckled cheeks cracked as they moved, and nothing came out but wet coughing as blood dripped down her chin.

Elsa screamed and collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, slamming her fists repeatedly into the solid ice beneath her, until her own blood splattered from reopened wounds, mixing with that of—

She couldn’t think the name, as though her mind hit some wall at the very _idea_ —

Hands grasped her and held her from hurting herself any longer. Anna was calling her name, but Elsa couldn't hear it.

"I murdered you." Elsa sobbed, horrified.

_An ice spike slammed through the heart of Songbird - except Songbird wasn’t some mindless beast, it was her_ sister _, it was_ Anna—

Elsa retched.

"No, that wasn't me."

"Look at her face, Anna!" She choked out, shaking herself free from her sister's grip. She raised her hands into view, forcing herself to look at them. "I really am a monster..."

Anna grasped her hand. “Elsa,” she said. Her other hand brushed her sister’s cheek. “You’re not a monster.”

“I—”

“I love you,” Anna interrupted. “This was—it’s been stressful, and she attacked us—”

Elsa shoved the guilt and self-loathing down. Her sister wasn’t free yet, this was just a reminder. They needed to do something to erase Columbia from Anna’s history, wipe the slate clean.

Anna deserved a better past.

“Anna,” she said. “I need you to open a tear.”

“Where?” Anna asked. Elsa’s heart clenched. Her sister didn’t even ask what Elsa planned - Anna’s faith in her was absolute.

That was just another reason to change things. Anna deserved better than a sister with bloody hands and a cruel magic.

Anna deserved better than her.

* * *

They were in a hall, similar to the one in the castle Elsa entered before reaching Columbia, similar to the dark, empty hallways of the castle of Arendelle. Only this hall seemed to go on forever, and on both sides of the walls were countless unlabeled doors with either side lit with candles to grant minimal light.

"There are so many of them..." Anna breathed, sounding like she was about to cry.

"Where will they take me?" Elsa asked as she was lead down the hall.

"They can take _us_ to...well, everywhere. Every _when_. All we have to do is choose."

“Anna...you really should stay here.”

Anna looked up at her older sister. “You never abandoned me, Elsa,” she said, her eyes bright. “Never once thought that I was...too much trouble, or too obnoxious, or wanted to give up on helping me. You’ve been the best sister ever, and I’m not gonna sit here and abandon you, either.” She slipped a hand in Elsa’s. “We’re gonna do this together.”

Elsa looked down the hall, and saw two figures walking side by side.

"It's us..."

Anna accepted the change of subject with a shrug. "Not exactly."

As they got closer, Elsa realized her sister was right - though one figure wore the same clothing as she did, _he_ was very obviously not a woman. And while the other figure was a woman, and clad in the same blue-and-white garments as Anna, her hair was a dark brown, and cut short.

She was looking at the man with a calculating gaze.

Elsa didn’t know how she’d mistaken the pair for her and—

— _she glanced up, having expected to die. Rather than the cold steel of the blade she anticipated, her vision was filled with blue ice._

_Anna._

_She scrambled to her feet, suddenly slipping on the icy ground. “No!” she cried, throwing herself on her sister. “No, no, no!”_

_She didn’t deserve her sister’s sacrifice, she never wanted it! Never wanted anything other than for Anna to be safe—_

Elsa shook the vision from her head, ignoring the trickle of blood she could feel coming from her nose. The pair had vanished, and Anna was looking at her, obviously worried.

“I’m fine,” she assured her sister, and to distract herself from Anna’s concerned face, she opened a door at random.

Of course, it led back to the ballroom at Arendelle castle. She’d never wanted to go back to that room. Not after what happened that night…

She remembered it clearly, though, and to her horror she realized that she was now re-living it.

It was dark and the only light came from the blue moon peeking through the windows, shining down on a fluffy snow covered dance floor. From the center of the room came giggling that struck fear into Elsa's heart. She looked behind her and saw a little pigtailed girl leaping from the top of a tall mound of snow.

"Catch me!" She laughed when she reached the height of her jump.

Elsa’s heart lurched, and she tried not to do it—

"Anna!" Elsa cried, blasting magic to create a softer landing for the girl. Instead of cushioning her sister’s landing, she missed entirely. Her magic struck her sister in the head, causing Anna to fall limp into the snow.

Instead of running to Anna like she had before, Elsa shrunk back into herself, terrified of hurting the girl more if she touched her.

“Elsa? You know I’m okay. You don’t have to cry.”

“I hurt you, Anna.”

“By accident! Mistakes happen, Elsa, nobody blames you—”

“ _I_ blame me!”

"Then why are you showing me this?" Anna demanded, tears threatening to fall. "don’t need to relive this! I can take us away from here, we can move on and be happy..."

"We have to find the Snow Queen."

"She's dead, Elsa!"

“In one world, in one time. But that’s not enough. She hurt you, Anna.” Elsa pushed the door open.

On the other side there was a woman, cradling a young sleeping Anna in her arms, the white streak in the child’s hair evident. She’d said she was Elsa from the future, and that she came back in time to save Anna before she froze to death. Elsa, thinking it was the only way, naturally handed her sister over to her savior. It was best for Anna’s own safety if her older sister stayed away from her.

The woman stood in front of a glowing portal, clutching onto Anna protectively. She spoke firmly, but kindly.

"I'll take care of her, Elsa. It's safer this way, I know what I'm doing."

"I...will I see her again?"

Her older self chuckled. "Maybe. If you can learn to control your powers."

"I will," Elsa said stubbornly.

"We'll see."

"Wait!" Elsa called. The portal ahead of her was closing, inexorably. Anna was awake now, one chubby fist stretching out for her sister. "How will I be able to find you once I can control my powers?"

Her older self laughed once more, but Elsa could hear its dark edge now, sharp like a blade. "I was never this naive, was I?" She paused a moment for a wicked grin to fill her face. "Anna is mine, now, like she was always meant to be."

"N-no!" Elsa rushed forwards, grabbed Anna's hand. "Give her back to me!"

"It's too late," her older self said. "She's mine. She will _always_ be mine."

And the portal snapped shut - Elsa watched as though in slow motion as Anna's hand slipped from her grasp but didn't quite go through the portal in time, her pinkie finger sliced cleanly in two by the sudden reappearance of the castle wall.

"No!" she cried, staring at the bloody finger on the ground. "Anna, no, please, no!"

Forgetting for a moment, she cried out for her parents. But they didn't come (wouldn't be coming, she reminded herself, not ever again), and there was no one to hold her as she wept.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... Anna, I'm sorry..."

They were both back at Arendelle castle, the normal one with fewer doors. They were specifically in her bedroom, which was blanketed in snow, and had snowflakes floating in place in the air. The only things around were bland pieces of furniture and a bed that all suffered from weather damage that they weren’t built to withstand. Elsa had put herself in this room because it was the only place where she hadn’t been with Anna. Everywhere else had terrible memories that she wanted to shut herself away from.

"You locked yourself away in this room,” Anna realized, her voice soft. “Until one day, they came to you.” She motioned where the large triangular window had been; in its place was the familiar circular shape of a tear. On the other side of it was the silhouette of a tall, stocky man and a bulky blonde woman standing on a frozen lake with their reindeer-drawn sled.

“And offered you...what, a chance of redemption? A chance for us to be together?”

“Both,” Elsa said, and walked through the tear.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she’d felt walking through that first tear. Her mind had gone blank, her vision turned white, her energy was sapped, and it felt like her entire body simply shut down and restarted itself.

She collapsed onto the lake’s surface.

Her vision was so warped, Elsa could’ve sworn she saw two men. No… one man, and the other was a woman. She could barely comprehend what she was saying, but they were definitely one woman and one woman.

She shook her head. Some part of that last thought had come out wrong.

Before she could try again, the man took Elsa’s right hand. The woman ran her fingers over it. The feeling was almost entirely numb over the snowflakes, but she could still tell.

“Looks like she branded herself.”

“I’ll never understand people.”

Elsa tried her best to wake up completely, but her vision was still framed with white, her ears were ringing, and her head felt empty and painful. She almost couldn’t even remember her own name. Once that came back to her, other names returned, voices and memories started flooding back all at once.

“Anna… Anna…”

“She remembers her sister,” said the man, who Elsa now knew was Kristoff. “They said that she’d try to make new memories from her old ones.”

“Worked for me.” replied Krista, shrugging.

Elsa fainted.

* * *

“Elsa… wake up.” Anna urged.

Elsa blinked, slowly. She was in the back of a sled. Anna was sitting next to her, and Kristoff and Krista were driving the reindeer. This was where it started…

“I let you go…” Elsa whimpered.

“At least you tried getting her back.” Kristoff chimed in. Elsa ignored him. It didn’t matter that she’d tried to undo something she already did. That she’d done it at all meant that she was simply incapable of taking care of Anna. Her sister didn’t need her anymore. Anna never needed her in the first place, either the Snow Queen or remained as herself.

The only reason why Elsa had ever needed to protect Anna...was herself.

Elsa swallowed. “There’s only one way to keep you safe from her. From me.”

“What are you saying, Elsa?” Anna asked, putting her hand on Elsa’s knee.

If this was a matter of ‘when’, then she’d have to go back in time far enough to when she was born, but Anna would still exist and live on without her. Back when she was already born, but Anna had not yet been born.

“We have to strangle the bitch in her crib.” The words flowed from somewhere beyond her, they sunk through her mind like stones in a river.

_Jack—Delta—Ryan—Booker—_

The names and thoughts and voices roared through her head in a kind of static white noise.

“Elsa, you don’t—”

“I understand now, Anna. I understand _everything_. I hurt you, and this is my penance. My sacrifice, for you.” The younger woman stared at her, wide-eyed and frightened, shaking her head in protest. She only ceased when they locked eyes. Elsa reached to her sister and stroked a lock of red hair behind her ear. “It’s alright, Anna.”

“No it’s not!” Anna cried, taking her hands in hers. “We’re together now, we can go to Paris, we can—”

“And yet we’re not together,” Elsa said. “You remember the castle. There are an infinite number of universes where I lose, where that other me keeps you and locks you away. I’ve seen the monster she turns you into, Anna, and I _have_ to protect you from that fate.”

Elsa smiled, sadly. “And if I’m lucky, you’ll never have to live in a tower for thirteen years.”

“Have lived?” interrupted Kristoff. Krista slugged him, hard, on the shoulder, and he shut up.

“There has to be another way,” Anna protested.

“She was right,” Elsa said. “There are no happy endings, not for me. But maybe I can make one for you.”

“Any ending without you can never be a happy one,” Anna said, her throat dry. “I need you, Elsa.”

“Open the tear, Anna. Send us back to when the Snow Queen is born.”

“No! I’ll find another way, Elsa! I can’t live without you!”

She froze in mid-speech, her face tight with emotion, and time froze with her.

“Lives,” said Kristoff.

“Lived,” said Krista.

“Will live,” said Elsa.

And the world disappeared.

 


	15. All's Well

The next time Anna blinked, she was no longer in the back of the sled. She was in Arendelle castle, or whatever it was called. There was no sign of the Bjorgman twins or, more importantly—

“Elsa!” she called down the hall. Only her echoes answered, no matter how many times she yelled. Where did she go? How could she have even  _gone_ anywhere in the first place? Elsa couldn’t open tears, that was Anna’s thing. So then why wasn’t her sister there? Elsa couldn’t have left her behind. She  _wouldn’t_ leave her behind.

Right?

“I’m afraid of  _you_ .”

The voice echoed from somewhere, Anna couldn’t see where. She wiped a trail of blood from her nostril. This couldn’t be happening.

“Elsa, where are you?” her voice cracked, and tears started welling up in her eyes, even at the mere thought of the slightest chance that Elsa had left her. She felt like a lost child. What a silly feeling for a grown woman to have.

_Come on, Anna_ , she encouraged herself.  _Elsa’s got to be nearby. Somewhere in this...dark, creepy, eerie hallway_ . She called again, only to have a sudden realization: she could open tears. Wherever Elsa had gotten off to, Anna could just...

It had been a while since she’d created tears. She had grown used to them just appearing all of these years, she feared that she might have forgotten how.

She closed her eyes and pictured Elsa. That’s how it had worked before, at least - thoughts of Paris had taken her to where she’d wanted to go.

With a wave of a single hand, a tear opened in front of her with ease. She walked through, and the world collapsed in on itself, re-forming into another reality: a small deer path in the middle of a forest.

Anna followed the beautiful flowers trailing up and down the path. She was almost completely mesmerized by their sweet smell; it was tempting to stop and admire them up close.

When the thought crossed her mind, she noticed something strange about the flowers. It was similar to when a tear flickered in and out of reality, but the flowers were all still there. It looked as though reality were a puzzle that had been put together with the pieces out of order. Then the flowers would flicker and go back to normal.

Anna looked around to see that the rest of the forest was doing that as well. Trees looked contorted and were missing squares of color, beams of sunlight looked cut in half, and the whistling of birds sounded warped and unnatural, but it all would flash back and forth every few seconds and go back to normal.

Tears never looked like this after walking through. Places would look distorted for an instant, sure, but then everything would be fine almost immediately after. That the forest looked defective was...concerning. Disturbing.

She continued about her way, looking for hidden meaning in the flashing images if she could catch them, but even just looking at the distorting reality started to give Anna a headache. She rubbed her eyes, and when she looked up ahead she saw something bright red laying on the side of the path. She ran to it urgently - even if she didn’t quite know what it was, she figured it might have something to do with where Elsa had gone.

Once she got closer, she saw that it was a bright red cloak, and like everything else in the forest, it looked crooked and discolored. Anna focused on the broken pieces of the cloak and saw what were unmistakably shredded pieces of the same material that were stained with large bloody paw prints.

Startled by the blood, Anna staggered back from the cloak.

She looked around again and was no longer in a spring forest in the day time, but at night and instead right in the middle of a crumbling civilization built on tiers of land going up and down rugged mountain slopes. The buildings were made of stone and were falling apart, but Anna recognized the structures from her picture books. It looked similar to 13th century Incan Empire, maybe even earlier than that.

She looked down at her hands. Was something wrong with the tear she opened? Had she somehow done it wrong?

“Where am I?” she asked aloud. Her voice seemed strange in the ruin, as though it didn’t quite inhabit the same space as her surroundings.

A soft voice responded. “A place that never existed.”

Anna turned around, hoping that it was Elsa. Instead, she saw a young maiden, perhaps a few years younger than herself. She was wearing a stunning blue dress, and a crown sat atop long, golden hair that curled far below her shoulders. Her eyes were a pretty indigo, and her lips were rosy. She was beautiful in a way that was different from Elsa’s glacial majesty.

“Or at least it was never meant to exist.” The young woman approached her slowly, with her hands resting together in front of her.

“I don’t understand,” Anna said. “Where’s Elsa? Who are you?”

“The twins have taken Elsa,” the woman said, a slight smile curving her lips. “And I am Princess Aurora.”

“Princess?”

“But I am unimportant, at least in this matter. You and your sister, on the other hand, have quite a bit resting on your shoulders.”

“I still don’t understand,” Anna said, frustrated. While Aurora had certainly answered her questions, it still felt as though she were in the dark.

“The twins,” Aurora continued, “have taken Elsa through realities.” She stepped close to Anna and pulled her fingers through her hair, letting the strands of white drift through her hand. “Through time, through worlds, to the day you earned this mark.”

She stepped back and turned away from Anna. “They’re going to kill the Snow Queen.”

“Then why do they want Elsa?”

Aurora looked at her, one eyebrow raised. “To kill the Snow Queen - to kill every Snow Queen, to erase her from history itself, they need a...junction. Some point in time in which every single Snow Queen, every single Elsa, exists.”

“But why?” Anna asked. Sure, the Snow Queen had been insane, and terrifying, and had hurt her a lot. But...this was  _Elsa!_ “Why do they want her to die?”

“You haven’t noticed?”

“Noticed what?”

Aurora gestured to the ruins. “This. All of this is wrong. Like I said, this place was never meant to exist. And neither were you - or at least, not like this.”

“I’m extremely confused right now.”

“There’s supposed to be a man, a city, and a lighthouse,” she explained. “Haven’t you seen it? Two universes collide, and the shards are all jumbled together. You weren’t supposed to be in Columbia, the Snow Queen was never meant to be anything other than a Prophet.”

“So?” Anna asked. “What does it matter if—”

“What matters,” Aurora continued, “is that these two universes were never meant to coexist. And like magnets, they’re attracting other worlds, other realities, other possibilities. Some of them are fragmenting, like this one, existing outside of possibility. But even these fragments are only temporary. More and more universes are...colliding, getting absorbed into each other. Eventually, this universe will cease to exist.”

Aurora gestured to herself. “I’m not meant to be here,” she said. “Much like this place. And for those of us who didn’t combine, who didn’t merge with the other universe, didn’t  _fit_ ...well, we’ll crumble away until there’s nothing left but one world, one version of events. No choice.”

Memories, thoughts, sensations rushed into Anna’s brain with the force of a freight train. 

An underwater city, a baptism, a child with glowing yellow eyes and a long needle.

_Eleanor._ _Sally_ .  _Anna_ .

_Elizabeth._

“A man chooses,” she said.

“A slave obeys,” said Aurora.

“But I am neither,” she said, and opened a tear.

* * *

They returned to the ballroom. As always, it was dark and the only light came from the blue moon peeking through the windows, shining down on a snow covered dance floor. Only now, no giggling of a little pigtailed girl could be heard. The texture of the ice and snow was no longer fluffy and beautiful. Now the cold was sharp and painful, and Elsa could practically feel it cutting off her circulation just from being there a few moments.

She looked ahead where the young Anna would be. She hadn't arrived yet. But once she did, it wouldn't be long before Elsa would accidentally strike her again, and this time ( _that time, those times_ ) Anna would not wake up. This was the only way to keep from becoming the Snow Queen, and the only way Anna could live on.

“Are you certain that this will work?” Kristoff asked.

Krista shrugged. “Not entirely. It  _ought_ to be her. But, well, we all have to make compromises.”

There was a flash of light, and reality changed.

_Anna_ . Except this wasn’t the Anna Elsa expected to arrive, young and innocent. This was the Anna she’d had to leave behind.

This was the Anna she’d failed.

Anna’s expression was difficult to figure out with the little light granted from the moon, but the whites of her eyes shone intensely, sending a shiver down Elsa’s spine. The alien thoughts were pounding in her head— _daughter sister lover bring us the girl and wipe away the debt_ —

“I understand, Elsa.”

Elsa opened her mouth to speak. “You—”

“You never think I do,” Anna continued, walking to her sister. “You always try to keep me safe. And sometimes you fail. Sometimes you become a monster.”

Krista turned to Kristoff, visibly surprised. “That...that works,” she said.

Kristoff made a humming sound.

Elsa ignored their byplay, focused entirely on Anna. She really did understand. Elsa tilted her head backwards, closed her eyes. She felt Anna’s hands around her neck.

Let it be quick, she thought. Please, let it be quick.

And then Anna clasped her sister to her in a hug, and her breath tickled Elsa’s ear as she whispered.

“I forgive you."

Reality crumbled around them. Elsa was barely cognizant of Krista being ripped away, torn into nothingness, Kristoff helplessly reaching towards his twin—

—and the world put itself back together.

They stood in a castle courtyard, Anna and Elsa holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes. The memories ripped through Elsa’s head - not painful, exactly, too familiar for discomfort. Snowmen, and a dangerously ambitious prince, and - most importantly - a happily ever after.

 


	16. Burial At Sea

It was a sunny late afternoon. The sky was the brightest of blues, and the only cloud present was an occasional lazy passerby. Bluebirds crooned as they playfully chased each other through the air, stopping only to pick up crumbs of bread thrown by a child. Honey bees hummed nearby, contentedly working in a patch of planted crocuses.

A gentle breeze caused the blossoms to fall from their tree to the brick road, turning it from a warm grey to a vibrant pink, one of her sister's favorite colors. Across the street was an artist painting to his heart's content, with his liquid colors and brushes scattered off to the side in organized chaos. Little cruise boats were floating down the Seine River, just barely ducking under one of its many bridges. In the distance was a young Eiffel Tower, stealing attention from the sun peeking over the adorable houses.

Elsa basked in the shade of an umbrella of the restaurant she was visiting, listening to a relaxing jazzy tune from the record player. On the tiny table, she had a chocolate croissant and her first glass of red wine, both of which she had yet to touch. She was just so satisfied, because for the first time in forever she was able to just sit and breathe in fresh air and take in the picturesque sights. Which reminded her, Anna had yet to catch up with her. If she didn't hurry, she was going to finish the croissant and the whole bottle of wine before she even got there.

“Mademoiselle?”

“Oui?” Elsa turned her head to the woman asking for her attention. She was face to face with… herself. It was a beautiful charcoal picture of her portrait, which somehow reflected how serene she felt. Elsa had never been good at drawing organic things, so it always took her breath away when she saw when someone could.

“Quel est votre nom?” asked the artist. She looked up at the woman holding the portrait. She was dressed in a long yellow dress, with a blue tie, and white boots with black on the soles, toes, and heels. She had beautiful teal eyes (though not as dazzling as Anna's) and brown hair tied into a bun.

The woman was starting to blush, waiting for Elsa's answer.

“Oh! Elsa,” she replied, flustered at being caught off guard.

The artist nodded, smiling, and put the charcoal pencil to the fabric held in her gloved hands. Once finished, she turned the portrait on a proper side, and handed it to her. She had added her name to the piece.

“Pour vous, Elsa.”

“Oh, non!” she protested, even if she was very flattered. She felt herself blushing from the attention of a pretty woman and the kind gesture. The artist did ask Elsa first if she could draw her, which she didn't mind. She'd had portraits done before. But never one as a gift. It was so beautiful, she simply couldn't accept it.

“Je ne pouvais pas! Je ne peux pas accepter—”

“Si'l vous plaît.” She pleaded gently, and with a slight bow, handed Elsa the canvas. “J'insiste.”

“Oh,” she breathed, smiling. She took it by the frame, and held it delicately in her fingers. She took quick notice of the signature. “Merci, Madame Porter.”

She gazed at the portrait for a few moments. Jane Porter was a _very_ talented artist. She would have to ask her if she could draw her sister for her. Though she was certain that as soon as she saw Anna, she would have no need to ask.

Where had her sister gone off to, anyway?

Elsa stood from her chair, setting her portrait in her place. She turned to Jane, who had begun gazing intently at a muscular street performer, and let her know that she would be returning shortly, for she had to find her sister.

It may have been a lazy day for the girls, but Elsa had been hoping she would be able to spend most of it with Anna, instead of waiting for her like some stood-up date. She started her down the street - while Anna could be quite the wanderer, Elsa doubted she'd have gotten too far. Down the way, there were more artists who'd set up their easels outside of the shops selling flowers, fruits, and cheeses. She saw one of the artists she knew, and greeted her as she went.

“Guten Tag, Frau Fitzherbert.” Elsa was one of the few women in town who was multilingual. When a shopkeeper had had difficulty understanding Rapunzel's attempts at French, Elsa had translated for her and they'd been fast friends ever since. Along with Anna, the three of them had become something of a famous trio in the _voisinage_.

“Guten Tag, Elsa,” she replied, sighing at her mostly-white canvas, followed by a complaint that there was nothing good to paint. Elsa smiled at her uninspired friend apologetically and continued on her search, passing women in fancy dresses whispering about handsome painters from beneath their parasols.

At the center of the shops was a band of gypsies of all ages, minding themselves to their musical instruments and earning coin from the passersby. She saw an adorable prancing goat and tossed a coin in the hat laid out for tips. A flash of purple caught Elsa's eye, and when she looked up, she was met with the gaze of stunning emerald eyes. The woman had beautiful brown skin, wild black hair, pillowy red lips, swaying her hips...Elsa shook her head. She was getting distracted - and if the quirk to that rosy mouth was any indication, her interest was much to the woman's amusement. Trying to keep her blush under control, Elsa tossed another couple coins into the hat and continued on her way, heaving a sigh of relief when the woman was out of range of Elsa's temptation.

Even more frequent than the flirting women were the people already coupled up. So many men and women had linked arms and were admiring the majesty of their own city, loving every minute in it, together with the ones they loved. If only Elsa could be so lucky. She sighed, shaking her head with a smile.

Her beloved was probably down by the river. If she was, Elsa could bet that she'd fallen in, and that was why she was late. She descended the stairs that led down to the bank, where there were more shops, one man selling pet birds.

“L'Oiseau ou la cage? Pourquoi pas les deux?” he pitched with a tip of his hat.

Sadly for him, she would be buying neither the bird nor the cage. Nonetheless, she gave him an apathetic smile, and pressed on.

When she turned the corner, she saw a bright red balloon. That must have been Anna. Elsa smiled to herself and walked over to the balloon, but it wasn't Anna on the other end of the string.

“Sally?” Elsa gasped.

A chubby little white puppy barked at her and ran around her ankles, taking with it the balloon that was tied around its belly.

“Come back!”

Scooping up the Great Pyrenees pup, Elsa looked ahead to see Anna calling. The young woman was running towards her, smiling and out of breath.

“Elsa!” she sighed happily. “You found Sally for me.” The puppy barked again and wriggled, trying to be held by Anna. Anna removed the balloon string from the dog and handed it to her sister.

“For you!”

The older woman took it and gave her a fervent kiss on the lips, which the dog tried breaking up with her squirming. “Thank you.” she said, linking her arm with Anna's free one, and holding on to the balloon with the other. She led her back to the restaurant. All through the stroll, the couples from before gawked at them enviously.

“So this is why you kept me waiting?” Elsa asked, gesturing to the balloon in her grip.

“I was going to get you flowers, but I thought a balloon was much more fun. I tied it around Sally so she could hold it for me. But then when I tried to pay the guy for it, she took off running!”

Elsa laughed. She would often find herself competing with Sally for Anna's affection, but she loved the dog very much. “Well, I'm glad I found you. Seeing all the happy couples around, I was getting lonely.”

Anna blushed. "Aww...my Elsie-poo missed me," she said, and flirtatiously rubbed against Elsa's side.

Elsa shook her head. “Please, never call me that again.”

“Elsa-cakes?”

“No.”

The two women returned to the restaurant, where Jane had kept watch over their belongings. The balloon was tied safely around Sally's waist to make the small dog easier to spot should she decide to run off again. Elsa pulled up a chair for her sister and gave her a peck on the cheek before sitting in her own seat again. Sally was contently laying next to Anna's chair, ready to take a nap after all the excitement, her balloon swaying gently above her.

Elsa showed off the portrait the artist drew of her - Anna, naturally impressed, requested a sketch of her own. Elsa translated to Jane, who readily agreed. The younger sister was stiff and nervous at first (“What if I move and mess everything up?”), but soon relaxed after taking a big bite from the chocolate croissant Elsa had bought earlier (“It's not a photo, dear, Jane knows what she's doing.”).

The evening passed as they shared pastry and wine, the level in the bottle matching the sun's descent. Even after months of being reunited, Elsa was still prone to marvel at their newfound freedom. Anna had come to her life hand-in-hand with grave peril, yet now they were looking at perfect blue skies, to a world that left them peacefully basking in the joy of each other's company.

Now, with the whole world open to them, it was perfectly clear that their lives were inextricably entwined, bound first by fate and kept untarnished by love.

“Elsa?”

Elsa turned to Anna, lips curled in a smile. “Yes?”

“I love you.”

And, illuminated by the setting sun, the two shared a kiss.

* * *

_The End_


End file.
